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Title: How to Speak and Write Correctly
Author: Joseph Devlin
Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6409]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on December 8, 2002]
[Date last updated: December 14, 2005]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
HOW TO
SPEAK AND WRITE
CORRECTLY
By
JOSEPH DEVLIN, M.A.
Edited by
THEODORE WATERS
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
REQUIREMENTS OF SPEECH
Vocabulary. Parts of speech. Requisites
CHAPTER II
ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR
Divisions of grammar. Definitions. Etymology.
CHAPTER III
THE SENTENCE
Different kinds. Arrangement of words Paragraph.
CHAPTER IV
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
Figures of speech. Definitions and examples. Use of figures.
CHAPTER V
PUNCTUATION
Principal points. Illustrations. Capital letters.
CHAPTER VI
LETTER WRITING
Principles of letter writing. Forms. Notes.
CHAPTER VII
ERRORS
Mistakes. Slips of authors. Examples and corrections.
Errors of redundancy.
CHAPTER VIII
PITFALLS TO AVOID
Common stumbling blocks. Peculiar constructions. Misused forms.
CHAPTER IX
STYLE
Diction. Purity. Propriety. Precision.
CHAPTER X
SUGGESTIONS
How to write. What to write. Correct speaking and speakers.
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CHAPTER XI
SLANG
Origin. American slang. Foreign slang.
CHAPTER XII
WRITING FOR NEWSPAPERS
Qualification. Appropriate subjects. Directions.
CHAPTER XIII
CHOICE OF WORDS
Small words. Their importance. The Anglo-Saxon element.
CHAPTER XIV
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Beginning. Different Sources. The present.
CHAPTER XV
MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF LITERATURE
Great authors. Classification. The world's best books.
INTRODUCTION
In the preparation of this little work the writer has kept one end in view, viz.: To make it
serviceable for those for whom it is intended, that is, for those who have neither the time
nor the opportunity, the learning nor the inclination, to peruse elaborate and abstruse
treatises on Rhetoric, Grammar, and Composition. To them such works are as gold
enclosed in chests of steel and locked beyond power of opening. This book has no
pretension about it whatever,—it is neither a Manual of Rhetoric, expatiating on the
dogmas of style, nor a Grammar full of arbitrary rules and exceptions. It is merely an
effort to help ordinary, everyday people to express themselves in ordinary, everyday
language, in a proper manner. Some broad rules are laid down, the observance of which
will enable the reader to keep within the pale of propriety in oral and written language.
Many idiomatic words and expressions, peculiar to the language, have been given,
besides which a number of the common mistakes and pitfalls have been placed before the
reader so that he may know and avoid them.
The writer has to acknowledge his indebtedness to no one in particular, but to all in
general who have ever written on the subject.
The little book goes forth—a finger-post on the road of language pointing in the right
direction. It is hoped that they who go according to its index will arrive at the goal of
correct speaking and writing.
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CHAPTER I
REQUIREMENTS OF SPEECH
Vocabulary—Parts of Speech—Requisites
It is very easy to learn how to speak and write correctly, as for all purposes of ordinary
conversation and communication, only about 2,000 different words are required. The
mastery of just twenty hundred words, the knowing where to place them, will make us
not masters of the English language, but masters of correct speaking and writing. Small
number, you will say, compared with what is in the dictionary! But nobody ever uses all
the words in the dictionary or could use them did he live to be the age of Methuselah, and
there is no necessity for using them.
There are upwards of 200,000 words in the recent editions of the large dictionaries, but
the one-hundredth part of this number will suffice for all your wants. Of course you may
think not, and you may not be content to call things by their common names; you may be
ambitious to show superiority over others and display your learning or, rather, your
pedantry and lack of learning. For instance, you may not want to call a spade a spade.
You may prefer to call it a spatulous device for abrading the surface of the soil. Better,
however, to stick to the old familiar, simple name that your grandfather called it. It has
stood the test of time, and old friends are always good friends.
To use a big word or a foreign word when a small one and a familiar one will answer the
same purpose, is a sign of ignorance. Great scholars and writers and polite speakers use
simple words.
To go back to the number necessary for all purposes of conversation correspondence and
writing, 2,000, we find that a great many people who pass in society as being polished,
refined and educated use less, for they know less. The greatest scholar alive hasn't more
than four thousand different words at his command, and he never has occasion to use half
the number.
In the works of Shakespeare, the most wonderful genius the world has ever known, there
is the enormous number of 15,000 different words, but almost 10,000 of them are
obsolete or meaningless today.
Every person of intelligence should be able to use his mother tongue correctly. It only
requires a little pains, a little care, a little study to enable one to do so, and the
recompense is great.
Consider the contrast between the well-bred, polite man who knows how to choose and
use his words correctly and the underbred, vulgar boor, whose language grates upon the
ear and jars the sensitiveness of the finer feelings. The blunders of the latter, his
infringement of all the canons of grammar, his absurdities and monstrosities of language,
make his very presence a pain, and one is glad to escape from his company.
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The proper grammatical formation of the English language, so that one may acquit
himself as a correct conversationalist in the best society or be able to write and express
his thoughts and ideas upon paper in the right manner, may be acquired in a few lessons.
It is the purpose of this book, as briefly and concisely as possible, to direct the reader
along a straight course, pointing out the mistakes he must avoid and giving him such
assistance as will enable him to reach the goal of a correct knowledge of the English
language. It is not a Grammar in any sense, but a guide, a silent signal-post pointing the
way in the right direction.
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN A NUTSHELL
All the words in the English language are divided into nine great classes. These classes
are called the Parts of Speech. They are Article, Noun, Adjective, Pronoun, Verb,
Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction and Interjection. Of these, the Noun is the most
important, as all the others are more or less dependent upon it. A Noun signifies the name
of any person, place or thing, in fact, anything of which we can have either thought or
idea. There are two kinds of Nouns, Proper and Common. Common Nouns are names
which belong in common to a race or class, as man, city. Proper Nouns distinguish
individual members of a race or class as John, Philadelphia. In the former case man is a
name which belongs in common to the whole race of mankind, and city is also a name
which is common to all large centres of population, but John signifies a particular
individual of the race, while Philadelphia denotes a particular one from among the cities
of the world.
Nouns are varied by Person, Number, Gender, and Case. Person is that relation existing
between the speaker, those addressed and the subject under consideration, whether by
discourse or correspondence. The Persons are First, Second and Third and they represent
respectively the speaker, the person addressed and the person or thing mentioned or under
consideration.
Number is the distinction of one from more than one. There are two numbers, singular
and plural; the singular denotes one, the plural two or more. The plural is generally
formed from the singular by the addition of s or es.
Gender has the same relation to nouns that sex has to individuals, but while there are only
two sexes, there are four genders, viz., masculine, feminine, neuter and common. The
masculine gender denotes all those of the male kind, the feminine gender all those of the
female kind, the neuter gender denotes inanimate things or whatever is without life, and
common gender is applied to animate beings, the sex of which for the time being is
indeterminable, such as fish, mouse, bird, etc. Sometimes things which are without life as
we conceive it and which, properly speaking, belong to the neuter gender, are, by a figure
of speech called Personification, changed into either the masculine or feminine gender,
as, for instance, we say of the sun, He is rising; of the moon, She is setting.
Case is the relation one noun bears to another or to a verb or to a preposition. There are
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three cases, the Nominative, the Possessive and the Objective. The nominative is the
subject of which we are speaking or the agent which directs the action of the verb; the
possessive case denotes possession, while the objective indicates the person or thing
which is affected by the action of the verb.
An Article is a word placed before a noun to show whether the latter is used in a
particular or general sense. There are but two articles, a or an and the.
An Adjective is a word which qualifies a noun, that is, which shows some distinguishing
mark or characteristic belonging to the noun.
DEFINITIONS
A Pronoun is a word used for or instead of a noun to keep us from repeating the same
noun too often. Pronouns, like nouns, have case, number, gender and person. There are
three kinds of pronouns, personal, relative and adjective.
A verb is a word which signifies action or the doing of something. A verb is inflected by
tense and mood and by number and person, though the latter two belong strictly to the
subject of the verb.
An adverb is a word which modifies a verb, an adjective and sometimes another adverb.
A preposition serves to connect words and to show the relation between the objects
which the words express.
A conjunction is a word which joins words, phrases, clauses and sentences together.
An interjection is a word which expresses surprise or some sudden emotion of the mind.
THREE ESSENTIALS
The three essentials of the English language are: Purity, Perspicuity and Precision.
By Purity is signified the use of good English. It precludes the use of all slang words,
vulgar phrases, obsolete terms, foreign idioms, ambiguous expressions or any
ungrammatical language whatsoever. Neither does it sanction the use of any newly
coined word until such word is adopted by the best writers and speakers.
Perspicuity demands the clearest expression of thought conveyed in unequivocal
language, so that there may be no misunderstanding whatever of the thought or idea the
speaker or writer wishes to convey. All ambiguous words, words of double meaning and
words that might possibly be construed in a sense different from that intended, are strictly
forbidden. Perspicuity requires a style at once clear and comprehensive and entirely free
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from pomp and pedantry and affectation or any straining after effect.
Precision requires concise and exact expression, free from redundancy and tautology, a
style terse and clear and simple enough to enable the hearer or reader to comprehend
immediately the meaning of the speaker or writer. It forbids, on the one hand, all long
and involved sentences, and, on the other, those that are too short and abrupt. Its object is
to strike the golden mean in such a way as to rivet the attention of the hearer or reader on
the words uttered or written.
CHAPTER II
ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR
Divisions of Grammar—Definitions—Etymology.
In order to speak and write the English language correctly, it is imperative that the
fundamental principles of the Grammar be mastered, for no matter how much we may
read of the best authors, no matter how much we may associate with and imitate the best
speakers, if we do not know the underlying principles of the correct formation of
sentences and the relation of words to one another, we will be to a great extent like the
parrot, that merely repeats what it hears without understanding the import of what is said.
Of course the parrot, being a creature without reason, cannot comprehend; it can simply
repeat what is said to it, and as it utters phrases and sentences of profanity with as much
facility as those of virtue, so by like analogy, when we do not understand the grammar of
the language, we may be making egregious blunders while thinking we are speaking with
the utmost accuracy.
DIVISIONS OF GRAMMAR
There are four great divisions of Grammar, viz.:
Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody.
Orthography treats of letters and the mode of combining them into words.
Etymology treats of the various classes of words and the changes they undergo.
Syntax treats of the connection and arrangement of words in sentences.
Prosody treats of the manner of speaking and reading and the different kinds of verse.
The three first mentioned concern us most.
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LETTERS
A letter is a mark or character used to represent an articulate sound. Letters are divided
into vowels and consonants. A vowel is a letter which makes a distinct sound by itself.
Consonants cannot be sounded without the aid of vowels. The vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and
sometimes w and y when they do not begin a word or syllable.
SYLLABLES AND WORDS
A syllable is a distinct sound produced by a single effort of [Transcriber's note: 1-2 words
illegible] shall, pig, dog. In every syllable there must be at least one vowel.
A word consists of one syllable or a combination of syllables.
Many rules are given for the dividing of words into syllables, but the best is to follow as
closely as possible the divisions made by the organs of speech in properly pronouncing
them.
THE PARTS OF SPEECH
ARTICLE
An Article is a word placed before a noun to show whether the noun is used in a
particular or general sense.
There are two articles, a or an and the. A or an is called the indefinite article because it
does not point put any particular person or thing but indicates the noun in its widest
sense; thus, a man means any man whatsoever of the species or race.
The is called the definite article because it points out some particular person or thing;
thus, the man means some particular individual.
NOUN
A noun is the name of any person, place or thing as John, London, book. Nouns are
proper and common.
Proper nouns are names applied to particular persons or places.
Common nouns are names applied to a whole kind or species.
Nouns are inflected by number, gender and case.
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Number is that inflection of the noun by which we indicate whether it represents one or
more than one.
Gender is that inflection by which we signify whether the noun is the name of a male, a
female, of an inanimate object or something which has no distinction of sex.
Case is that inflection of the noun which denotes the state of the person, place or thing
represented, as the subject of an affirmation or question, the owner or possessor of
something mentioned, or the object of an action or of a relation.
Thus in the example, "John tore the leaves of Sarah's book," the distinction between book
which represents only one object and leaves which represent two or more objects of the
same kind is called Number; the distinction of sex between John, a male, and Sarah, a
female, and book and leaves, things which are inanimate and neither male nor female, is
called Gender; and the distinction of state between John, the person who tore the book,
and the subject of the affirmation, Mary, the owner of the book, leaves the objects torn,
and book the object related to leaves, as the whole of which they were a part, is called
Case.
ADJECTIVE
An adjective is a word which qualifies a noun, that is, shows or points out some
distinguishing mark or feature of the noun; as, A black dog.
Adjectives have three forms called degrees of comparison, the positive, the comparative
and the superlative.
The positive is the simple form of the adjective without expressing increase or diminution
of the original quality: nice.
The comparative is that form of the adjective which expresses increase or diminution of
the quality: nicer.
The superlative is that form which expresses the greatest increase or diminution of the
quality: nicest.
or
An adjective is in the positive form when it does not express comparison; as, "A rich
man."
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An adjective is in the comparative form when it expresses comparison between two or
between one and a number taken collectively, as, "John is richer than James"; "he is
richer than all the men in Boston."
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An adjective is in the superlative form when it expresses a comparison between one and a
number of individuals taken separately; as, "John is the richest man in Boston."
Adjectives expressive of properties or circumstances which cannot be increased have
only the positive form; as, A circular road; the chief end; an extreme measure.
Adjectives are compared in two ways, either by adding er to the positive to form the
comparative and est to the positive to form the superlative, or by prefixing more to the
positive for the comparative and most to the positive for the superlative; as, handsome,
handsomer, handsomest or handsome, more handsome, most handsome.
Adjectives of two or more syllables are generally compared by prefixing more and most.
Many adjectives are irregular in comparison; as, Bad, worse, worst; Good, better, best.
PRONOUN
A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun; as, "John gave his pen to James and he lent
it to Jane to write her copy with it." Without the pronouns we would have to write this
sentence,—"John gave John's pen to James and James lent the pen to Jane to write Jane's
copy with the pen."
There are three kinds of pronouns—Personal, Relative and Adjective Pronouns.
Personal Pronouns are so called because they are used instead of the names of persons,
places and things. The Personal Pronouns are I, Thou, He, She, and It, with their plurals,
We, Ye or You and They.
I is the pronoun of the first person because it represents the person speaking.
Thou is the pronoun of the second person because it represents the person spoken to.
He, She, It are the pronouns of the third person because they represent the persons or
things of whom we are speaking.
Like nouns, the Personal Pronouns have number, gender and case. The gender of the first
and second person is obvious, as they represent the person or persons speaking and those
who are addressed. The personal pronouns are thus declined:
First Person.
M. or F.
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Sing.
Plural.
N.
I
We
P.
Mine
Ours
O.
Me
Us
Second Person.
M. or F.
Sing.
Plural.
N.
Thou
You
P.
Thine
Yours
O.
Thee
You
Third Person.
M.
Sing.
Plural.
N.
He
They
P.
His
Theirs
O.
Him
Them
Third Person.
F.
Sing.
Plural.
N.
She
They
P.
Hers
Theirs
O.
Her
Them
Third Person.
Neuter.
Sing.
Plural.
N.
It
They
P.
Its
Theirs
O.
It
Them
N. B.—In colloquial language and ordinary writing Thou, Thine and Thee are seldom
used, except by the Society of Friends. The Plural form You is used for both the
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nominative and objective singular in the second person and Yours is generally used in the
possessive in place of Thine.
The Relative Pronouns are so called because they relate to some word or phrase going
before; as, "The boy who told the truth;" "He has done well, which gives me great
pleasure."
Here who and which are not only used in place of other words, but who refers
immediately to boy, and which to the circumstance of his having done well.
The word or clause to which a relative pronoun refers is called the Antecedent.
The Relative Pronouns are who, which, that and what.
Who is applied to persons only; as, "The man who was here."
Which is applied to the lower animals and things without life; as, "The horse which I
sold." "The hat which I bought."
That is applied to both persons and things; as, "The friend that helps." "The bird that
sings." "The knife that cuts."
What is a compound relative, including both the antecedent and the relative and is
equivalent to that which; as, "I did what he desired," i. e. "I did that which he desired."
Relative pronouns have the singular and plural alike.
Who is either masculine or feminine; which and that are masculine, feminine or neuter;
what as a relative pronoun is always neuter.
That and what are not inflected.
Who and which are thus declined:
N.
Sing. and Plural
Who
N.
Sing. and Plural
Which
P.
Whose
P.
Whose
O.
Whom
O.
Which
Who, which and what when used to ask questions are called Interrogative Pronouns.
Adjective Pronouns partake of the nature of adjectives and pronouns and are subdivided
as follows:
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Demonstrative Adjective Pronouns which directly point out the person or object. They
are this, that with their plurals these, those, and yon, same and selfsame.
Distributive Adjective Pronouns used distributively. They are each, every, either, neither.
Indefinite Adjective Pronouns used more or less indefinitely. They are any, all, few, some,
several, one, other, another, none.
Possessive Adjective Pronouns denoting possession. They are my, thy, his, her, its, our,
your, their.
N. B.—(The possessive adjective pronouns differ from the possessive case of the
personal pronouns in that the latter can stand alone while the former cannot. "Who owns
that book?" "It is mine." You cannot say "it is my,"—the word book must be repeated.)
THE VERB
A verb is a word which implies action or the doing of something, or it may be defined as
a word which affirms, commands or asks a question.
Thus, the words John the table, contain no assertion, but when the word strikes is
introduced, something is affirmed, hence the word strikes is a verb and gives
completeness and meaning to the group.
The simple form of the verb without inflection is called the root of the verb; e. g. love is
the root of the verb,—"To Love."
Verbs are regular or irregular, transitive or intransitive.
A verb is said to be regular when it forms the past tense by adding ed to the present or d
if the verb ends in e. When its past tense does not end in ed it is said to be irregular.
A transitive verb is one the action of which passes over to or affects some object; as "I
struck the table." Here the action of striking affected the object table, hence struck is a
transitive verb.
An intransitive verb is one in which the action remains with the subject; as "I walk," "I
sit," "I run."
Many intransitive verbs, however, can be used transitively; thus, "I walk the horse;" walk
is here transitive.
Verbs are inflected by number, person, tense and mood.
Number and person as applied to the verb really belong to the subject; they are used with
the verb to denote whether the assertion is made regarding one or more than one and
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whether it is made in reference to the person speaking, the person spoken to or the person
or thing spoken about.
TENSE
In their tenses verbs follow the divisions of time. They have present tense, past tense and
future tense with their variations to express the exact time of action as to an event
happening, having happened or yet to happen.
MOOD
There are four simple moods,—the Infinitive, the Indicative, the Imperative and the
Subjunctive.
The Mood of a verb denotes the mode or manner in which it is used. Thus if it is used in
its widest sense without reference to person or number, time or place, it is in the Infinitive
Mood; as "To run." Here we are not told who does the running, when it is done, where it
is done or anything about it.
When a verb is used to indicate or declare or ask a simple question or make any direct
statement, it is in the Indicative Mood. "The boy loves his book." Here a direct statement
is made concerning the boy. "Have you a pin?" Here a simple question is asked which
calls for an answer.
When the verb is used to express a command or entreaty it is in the Imperative Mood as,
"Go away." "Give me a penny."
When the verb is used to express doubt, supposition or uncertainty or when some future
action depends upon a contingency, it is in the subjunctive mood; as, "If I come, he shall
remain."
Many grammarians include a fifth mood called the potential to express power, possibility,
liberty, necessity, will or duty. It is formed by means of the auxiliaries may, can, ought
and must, but in all cases it can be resolved into the indicative or subjunctive. Thus, in "I
may write if I choose," "may write" is by some classified as in the potential mood, but in
reality the phrase I may write is an indicative one while the second clause, if I choose, is
the expression of a condition upon which, not my liberty to write, depends, but my actual
writing.
Verbs have two participles, the present or imperfect, sometimes called the active ending
in ing and the past or perfect, often called the passive, ending in ed or d.
The infinitive expresses the sense of the verb in a substantive form, the participles in an
adjective form; as "To rise early is healthful." "An early rising man." "The newly risen
sun."
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The participle in ing is frequently used as a substantive and consequently is equivalent to
an infinitive; thus, "To rise early is healthful" and "Rising early is healthful" are the same.
The principal parts of a verb are the Present Indicative, Past Indicative and Past
Participle; as:
Love
Loved
Loved
Sometimes one or more of these parts are wanting, and then the verb is said to be
defective.
Present
Past
Passive Participle
Can
Could
(Wanting)
May
Might
"
Shall
Should
"
Will
Would
"
Ought
Ought
"
Verbs may also be divided into principal and auxiliary. A principal verb is that without
which a sentence or clause can contain no assertion or affirmation. An auxiliary is a verb
joined to the root or participles of a principal verb to express time and manner with
greater precision than can be done by the tenses and moods in their simple form. Thus,
the sentence, "I am writing an exercise; when I shall have finished it I shall read it to the
class." has no meaning without the principal verbs writing, finished read; but the meaning
is rendered more definite, especially with regard to time, by the auxiliary verbs am, have,
shall.
There are nine auxiliary or helping verbs, viz., Be, have, do, shall, will, may, can, ought,
and must. They are called helping verbs, because it is by their aid the compound tenses
are formed.
TO BE
The verb To Be is the most important of the auxiliary verbs. It has eleven parts, viz., am,
art, is, are, was, wast, were, wert; be, being and been.
VOICE
The active voice is that form of the verb which shows the Subject not being acted upon
but acting; as, "The cat catches mice." "Charity covers a multitude of sins."
The passive voice: When the action signified by a transitive verb is thrown back upon the
agent, that is to say, when the subject of the verb denotes the recipient of the action, the
verb is said to be in the passive voice. "John was loved by his neighbors." Here John the
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subject is also the object affected by the loving, the action of the verb is thrown back on
him, hence the compound verb was loved is said to be in the passive voice. The passive
voice is formed by putting the perfect participle of any transitive verb with any of the
eleven parts of the verb To Be.
CONJUGATION
The conjugation of a verb is its orderly arrangement in voices, moods, tenses, persons
and numbers.
Here is the complete conjugation of the verb "Love"—Active Voice.
PRINCIPAL PARTS
Present
Past
Past Participle
Love
Loved
Loved
Infinitive Mood
To Love
Indicative Mood
PRESENT TENSE
Sing.
1st person
I love
Plural
We love
2nd person
You love
You love
3rd person
He loves
They love
PAST TENSE
Sing.
Plural
1st person
I loved
We loved
2nd person
You loved
You loved
3rd person
He loved
They loved
FUTURE TENSE
Sing.
1st person
I shall love
Plural
They will love
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2nd person
You will love
You will love
3rd person
He will love
We shall love
PRESENT PERFECT TENSE
Sing.
Plural
1st person
I have loved
We have loved
2nd person
You have loved
You have loved
3rd person
He has loved
They have loved
PAST PERFECT TENSE
1st person
Sing.
I had loved
Plural
We had loved
2nd person
You had loved
You had loved
3rd person
He had loved
They had loved
FUTURE PERFECT TENSE
Sing.
Plural
1st person
I shall have loved
We shall have loved
2nd person
You will have loved
You will have loved
3rd person
He will have loved
They will have loved
Imperative Mood
(PRESENT TENSE ONLY)
2nd person
Sing.
Love (you)
Plural
Love (you)
Subjunctive Mood
PRESENT TENSE
1st person
Sing.
If I love
Plural
If we love
2nd person
If you love
If you love
3rd person
If he love
If they love
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PAST TENSE
1st person
Sing.
If I loved
Plural
If we loved
2nd person
If you loved
If you loved
3rd person
If he loved
If they loved
PRESENT PERFECT TENSE
Sing.
Plural
1st person
If I have loved
If we have loved
2nd person
If you have loved
If you have loved
3rd person
If he has loved
If they have loved
PAST PERFECT TENSE
Sing.
Plural
1st person
If I had loved
If we had loved
2nd person
If you had loved
If you had loved
3rd person
If he had loved
If they had loved
INFINITIVES
Present
To love
Perfect
To have loved
PARTICIPLES
Present
Loving
Past
Loved
Perfect
Having loved
CONJUGATION OF "To Love"
Passive Voice
Indicative Mood
PRESENT TENSE
Sing.
1st person
I am loved
Plural
We are loved
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2nd person
You are loved
You are loved
3rd person
He is loved
They are loved
PAST TENSE
Sing.
Plural
1st person
I was loved
We were loved
2nd person
You were loved
You were loved
3rd person
He was loved
They were loved
FUTURE TENSE
1st person
Sing.
I shall be loved
Plural
We shall be loved
2nd person
You will be loved
You will be loved
3rd person
He will be loved
They will be loved
PRESENT PERFECT TENSE
Sing.
Plural
1st person
I have been loved
We have been loved
2nd person
You have been loved
You have been loved
3rd person
He has been loved
They have been loved
PAST PERFECT TENSE
Sing.
Plural
1st person
I had been loved
We had been loved
2nd person
You had been loved
You had been loved
3rd person
He had been loved
They had been loved
FUTURE PERFECT TENSE
Sing.
1st person I shall have been loved
Plural
We shall have been loved
2nd person You will have been loved You will have been loved
3rd person He will have been loved
They will have been loved
Imperative Mood
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(PRESENT TENSE ONLY)
Sing.
Be (you) loved
2nd person
Plural
Be (you) loved
Subjunctive Mood
PRESENT TENSE
1st person
Sing.
If I be loved
Plural
If we be loved
2nd person
If you be loved
If you be loved
3rd person
If he be loved
If they be loved
PAST TENSE
Sing.
Plural
1st person
If I were loved
If they were loved
2nd person
If you were loved
If you were loved
3rd person
If he were loved
If we were loved
PRESENT PERFECT TENSE
Sing.
Plural
1st person
If I have been loved
If we have been loved
2nd person
If you have been loved
If you have been loved
3rd person
If he has been loved
If they have been loved
PAST PERFECT TENSE
Sing.
Plural
1st person
If I had been loved
If we had been loved
2nd person
If you had been loved
If you had been loved
3rd person
If he had been loved
If they had been loved
INFINITIVES
Present
To be loved
Perfect
To have been loved
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PARTICIPLES
Present
Being loved
Past
Been loved
Perfect
Having been loved
(N. B.—Note that the plural form of the personal pronoun, you, is used in the second
person singular throughout. The old form thou, except in the conjugation of the verb "To
Be," may be said to be obsolete. In the third person singular he is representative of the
three personal pronouns of the third person, He, She and It.)
ADVERB
An adverb is a word which modifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb. Thus, in the
example—"He writes well," the adverb shows the manner in which the writing is
performed; in the examples—"He is remarkably diligent" and "He works very faithfully,"
the adverbs modify the adjective diligent and the other adverb faithfully by expressing the
degree of diligence and faithfulness.
Adverbs are chiefly used to express in one word what would otherwise require two or
more words; thus, There signifies in that place; whence, from what place; usefully, in a
useful manner.
Adverbs, like adjectives, are sometimes varied in their terminations to express
comparison and different degrees of quality.
Some adverbs form the comparative and superlative by adding er and est; as, soon,
sooner, soonest.
Adverbs which end in ly are compared by prefixing more and most; as, nobly, more
nobly, most nobly.
A few adverbs are irregular in the formation of the comparative and superlative; as, well,
better, best.
PREPOSITION
A preposition connects words, clauses, and sentences together and shows the relation
between them. "My hand is on the table" shows relation between hand and table.
Prepositions are so called because they are generally placed before the words whose
connection or relation with other words they point out.
CONJUNCTION
A conjunction joins words, clauses and sentences; as "John and James." "My father and
mother have come, but I have not seen them."
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The conjunctions in most general use are and, also; either, or; neither, nor; though, yet;
but, however; for, that; because, since; therefore, wherefore, then; if, unless, lest.
INTERJECTION
An interjection is a word used to express some sudden emotion of the mind. Thus in the
examples,—"Ah! there he comes; alas! what shall I do?" ah, expresses surprise, and alas,
distress.
Nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs become interjections when they are uttered as
exclamations, as, nonsense! strange! hail! away! etc.
We have now enumerated the parts of speech and as briefly as possible stated the
functions of each. As they all belong to the same family they are related to one another
but some are in closer affinity than others. To point out the exact relationship and the
dependency of one word on another is called parsing and in order that every etymological
connection may be distinctly understood a brief resume of the foregoing essentials is here
given:
The signification of the noun is limited to one, but to any one of the kind, by the
indefinite article, and to some particular one, or some particular number, by the definite
article.
Nouns, in one form, represent one of a kind, and in another, any number more than one;
they are the names of males, or females, or of objects which are neither male nor female;
and they represent the subject of an affirmation, a command or a question,—the owner or
possessor of a thing,—or the object of an action, or of a relation expressed by a
preposition.
Adjectives express the qualities which distinguish one person or thing from another; in
one form they express quality without comparison; in another, they express comparison
between two, or between one and a number taken collectively,—and in a third they
express comparison between one and a number of others taken separately.
Pronouns are used in place of nouns; one class of them is used merely as the substitutes
of names; the pronouns of another class have a peculiar reference to some preceding
words in the sentence, of which they are the substitutes,—and those of a third class refer
adjectively to the persons or things they represent. Some pronouns are used for both the
name and the substitute; and several are frequently employed in asking questions.
Affirmations and commands are expressed by the verb; and different inflections of the
verb express number, person, time and manner. With regard to time, an affirmation may
be present or past or future; with regard to manner, an affirmation may be positive or
conditional, it being doubtful whether the condition is fulfilled or not, or it being implied
that it is not fulfilled;—the verb may express command or entreaty; or the sense of the
verb may be expressed without affirming or commanding. The verb also expresses that an
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action or state is or was going on, by a form which is also used sometimes as a noun, and
sometimes to qualify nouns.
Affirmations are modified by adverbs, some of which can be inflected to express different
degrees of modification.
Words are joined together by conjunctions; and the various relations which one thing
bears to another are expressed by 'prepositions. Sudden emotions of the mind, and
exclamations are expressed by interjections.
Some words according to meaning belong sometimes to one part of speech, sometimes to
another. Thus, in "After a storm comes a calm," calm is a noun; in "It is a calm evening,"
calm is an adjective; and in "Calm your fears," calm is a verb.
The following sentence containing all the parts of speech is parsed etymologically:
"I now see the old man coming, but, alas, he has walked with much difficulty."
I, a personal pronoun, first person singular, masculine or feminine gender, nominative
case, subject of the verb see.
now, an adverb of time modifying the verb see.
see, an irregular, transitive verb, indicative mood, present tense, first person singular to
agree with its nominative or subject I.
the, the definite article particularizing the noun man.
old, an adjective, positive degree, qualifying the noun man.
man, a common noun, 3rd person singular, masculine gender, objective case governed by
the transitive verb see.
coming, the present or imperfect participle of the verb "to come" referring to the noun
man.
but, a conjunction.
alas, an interjection, expressing pity or sorrow.
he, a personal pronoun, 3rd person singular, masculine gender, nominative case, subject
of verb has walked.
has walked, a regular, intransitive verb, indicative mood, perfect tense, 3rd person
singular to agree with its nominative or subject he.
with, a preposition, governing the noun difficulty.
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much, an adjective, positive degree, qualifying the noun difficulty.
difficulty, a common noun, 3rd person singular, neuter gender, objective case governed
by the preposition with.
N.B.—Much is generally an adverb. As an adjective it is thus compared:
Positive
much
Comparative
more
Superlative
most
CHAPTER III
THE SENTENCE
Different Kinds—Arrangement of Words—Paragraph
A sentence is an assemblage of words so arranged as to convey a determinate sense or
meaning, in other words, to express a complete thought or idea. No matter how short, it
must contain one finite verb and a subject or agent to direct the action of the verb.
"Birds fly;" "Fish swim;" "Men walk;"—are sentences.
A sentence always contains two parts, something spoken about and something said about
it. The word or words indicating what is spoken about form what is called the subject and
the word or words indicating what is said about it form what is called the predicate.
In the sentences given, birds, fish and men are the subjects, while fly, swim and walk are
the predicates.
There are three kinds of sentences, simple, compound and complex.
The simple sentence expresses a single thought and consists of one subject and one
predicate, as, "Man is mortal."
A compound sentence consists of two or more simple sentences of equal importance the
parts of which are either expressed or understood, as, "The men work in the fields and the
women work in the household," or "The men work in the fields and the women in the
household" or "The men and women work in the fields and in the household."
A complex sentence consists of two or more simple sentences so combined that one
depends on the other to complete its meaning; as; "When he returns, I shall go on my
vacation." Here the words, "when he returns" are dependent on the rest of the sentence
for their meaning.
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A clause is a separate part of a complex sentence, as "when he returns" in the last
example.
A phrase consists of two or more words without a finite verb.
Without a finite verb we cannot affirm anything or convey an idea, therefore we can have
no sentence.
Infinitives and participles which are the infinite parts of the verb cannot be predicates. "I
looking up the street" is not a sentence, for it is not a complete action expressed. When
we hear such an expression as "A dog running along the street," we wait for something
more to be added, something more affirmed about the dog, whether he bit or barked or
fell dead or was run over.
Thus in every sentence there must be a finite verb to limit the subject.
When the verb is transitive, that is, when the action cannot happen without affecting
something, the thing affected is called the object.
Thus in "Cain killed Abel" the action of the killing affected Abel. In "The cat has caught
a mouse," mouse is the object of the catching.
ARRANGEMENT OF WORDS IN A SENTENCE
Of course in simple sentences the natural order of arrangement is subject—verb—object.
In many cases no other form is possible. Thus in the sentence "The cat has caught a
mouse," we cannot reverse it and say "The mouse has caught a cat" without destroying
the meaning, and in any other form of arrangement, such as "A mouse, the cat has
caught," we feel that while it is intelligible, it is a poor way of expressing the fact and one
which jars upon us more or less.
In longer sentences, however, when there are more words than what are barely necessary
for subject, verb and object, we have greater freedom of arrangement and can so place the
words as to give the best effect. The proper placing of words depends upon perspicuity
and precision. These two combined give style to the structure.
Most people are familiar with Gray's line in the immortal Elegy—"The ploughman
homeward plods his weary way." This line can be paraphrased to read 18 different ways.
Here are a few variations:
Homeward the ploughman plods his weary way.
The ploughman plods his weary way homeward.
Plods homeward the ploughman his weary way.
His weary way the ploughman homeward plods.
Homeward his weary way plods the ploughman.
Plods the ploughman his weary way homeward.
His weary way the ploughman plods homeward.
His weary way homeward the ploughman plods.
The ploughman plods homeward his weary way.
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The ploughman his weary way plods homeward.
and so on. It is doubtful if any of the other forms are superior to the one used by the poet.
Of course his arrangement was made to comply with the rhythm and rhyme of the verse.
Most of the variations depend upon the emphasis we wish to place upon the different
words.
In arranging the words in an ordinary sentence we should not lose sight of the fact that
the beginning and end are the important places for catching the attention of the reader.
Words in these places have greater emphasis than elsewhere.
In Gray's line the general meaning conveyed is that a weary ploughman is plodding his
way homeward, but according to the arrangement a very slight difference is effected in
the idea. Some of the variations make us think more of the ploughman, others more of the
plodding, and still others more of the weariness.
As the beginning and end of a sentence are the most important places, it naturally follows
that small or insignificant words should be kept from these positions. Of the two places
the end one is the more important, therefore, it really calls for the most important word in
the sentence. Never commence a sentence with And, But, Since, Because, and other
similar weak words and never end it with prepositions, small, weak adverbs or pronouns.
The parts of a sentence which are most closely connected with one another in meaning
should be closely connected in order also. By ignoring this principle many sentences are
made, if not nonsensical, really ridiculous and ludicrous. For instance: "Ten dollars
reward is offered for information of any person injuring this property by order of the
owner." "This monument was erected to the memory of John Jones, who was shot by his
affectionate brother."
In the construction of all sentences the grammatical rules must be inviolably observed.
The laws of concord, that is, the agreement of certain words, must be obeyed.
1. The verb agrees with its subject in person and number. "I have," "Thou hast," (the
pronoun thou is here used to illustrate the verb form, though it is almost obsolete),
"He has," show the variation of the verb to agree with the subject. A singular
subject calls for a singular verb, a plural subject demands a verb in the plural; as,
"The boy writes," "The boys write."
The agreement of a verb and its subject is often destroyed by confusing (1)
collective and common nouns; (2) foreign and English nouns; (3) compound and
simple subjects; (4) real and apparent subjects.
(1) A collective noun is a number of individuals or things regarded as a whole; as, class regiment.
When the individuals or things are prominently brought forward, use a plural verb; as The class
were distinguished for ability. When the idea of the whole as a unit is under consideration employ
a singular verb; as The regiment was in camp. (2) It is sometimes hard for the ordinary individual
to distinguish the plural from the singular in foreign nouns, therefore, he should be careful in the
selection of the verb. He should look up the word and be guided accordingly. "He was an alumnus
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of Harvard." "They were alumni of Harvard." (3) When a sentence with one verb has two or more
subjects denoting different things, connected by and, the verb should be plural; as, "Snow and rain
are disagreeable." When the subjects denote the same thing and are connected by or the verb
should be singular; as, "The man or the woman is to blame." (4) When the same verb has more
than one subject of different persons or numbers, it agrees with the most prominent in thought; as,
"He, and not you, is wrong." "Whether he or I am to be blamed."
2. Never use the past participle for the past tense nor vice versa. This mistake is a
very common one. At every turn we hear "He done it" for "He did it." "The jar
was broke" instead of broken. "He would have went" for "He would have gone,"
etc.
3. The use of the verbs shall and will is a rock upon which even the best speakers
come to wreck. They are interchanged recklessly. Their significance changes
according as they are used with the first, second or third person. With the first
person shall is used in direct statement to express a simple future action; as, "I
shall go to the city to-morrow." With the second and third persons shall is used to
express a determination; as, "You shall go to the city to-morrow," "He shall go to
the city to-morrow."
With the first person will is used in direct statement to express determination, as,
"I will go to the city to-morrow." With the second and third persons will is used to
express simple future action; as, "You will go to the city to-morrow," "He will go
to the city to-morrow."
A very old rule regarding the uses of shall and will is thus expressed in rhyme:
In the first person simply shall foretells,
In will a threat or else a promise dwells.
Shall in the second and third does threat,
Will simply then foretells the future feat.
4. Take special care to distinguish between the nominative and objective case. The
pronouns are the only words which retain the ancient distinctive case ending for
the objective. Remember that the objective case follows transitive verbs and
prepositions. Don't say "The boy who I sent to see you," but "The boy whom I
sent to see you." Whom is here the object of the transitive verb sent. Don't say
"She bowed to him and I" but "She bowed to him and me" since me is the
objective case following the preposition to understood. "Between you and I" is a
very common expression. It should be "Between you and me" since between is a
preposition calling for the objective case.
5. Be careful in the use of the relative pronouns who, which and that. Who refers
only to persons; which only to things; as, "The boy who was drowned," "The
umbrella which I lost." The relative that may refer to both persons and things; as,
"The man that I saw." "The hat that I bought."
6. Don't use the superlative degree of the adjective for the comparative; as "He is the
richest of the two" for "He is the richer of the two." Other mistakes often made in
this connection are (1) Using the double comparative and superlative; as, "These
apples are much more preferable." "The most universal motive to business is
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gain." (2) Comparing objects which belong to dissimilar classes; as "There is no
nicer life than a teacher." (3) Including objects in class to which they do not
belong; as, "The fairest of her daughters, Eve." (4) Excluding an object from a
class to which it does belong; as, "Caesar was braver than any ancient warrior."
7. Don't use an adjective for an adverb or an adverb for an adjective. Don't say, "He
acted nice towards me" but "He acted nicely toward me," and instead of saying
"She looked beautifully" say "She looked beautiful."
8. Place the adverb as near as possible to the word it modifies. Instead of saying,
"He walked to the door quickly," say "He walked quickly to the door."
9. Not alone be careful to distinguish between the nominative and objective cases of
the pronouns, but try to avoid ambiguity in their use.
The amusing effect of disregarding the reference of pronouns is well illustrated by
Burton in the following story of Billy Williams, a comic actor who thus narrates
his experience in riding a horse owned by Hamblin, the manager:
"So down I goes to the stable with Tom Flynn, and told the man to put the saddle
on him."
"On Tom Flynn?"
"No, on the horse. So after talking with Tom Flynn awhile I mounted him."
"What! mounted Tom Flynn?"
"No, the horse; and then I shook hands with him and rode off."
"Shook hands with the horse, Billy?"
"No, with Tom Flynn; and then I rode off up the Bowery, and who should I meet
but Tom Hamblin; so I got off and told the boy to hold him by the head."
"What! hold Hamblin by the head?"
"No, the horse; and then we went and had a drink together."
"What! you and the horse?"
"No, me and Hamblin; and after that I mounted him again and went out of town."
"What! mounted Hamblin again?"
"No, the horse; and when I got to Burnham, who should be there but Tom
Flynn,—he'd taken another horse and rode out ahead of me; so I told the hostler to
tie him up."
"Tie Tom Flynn up?"
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"No, the horse; and we had a drink there."
"What! you and the horse?"
"No, me and Tom Flynn."
Finding his auditors by this time in a horse laugh, Billy wound up with: "Now,
look here, —every time I say horse, you say Hamblin, and every time I say
Hamblin you say horse: I'll be hanged if I tell you any more about it."
SENTENCE CLASSIFICATION
There are two great classes of sentences according to the general principles upon which
they are founded. These are termed the loose and the periodic.
In the loose sentence the main idea is put first, and then follow several facts in connection
with it. Defoe is an author particularly noted for this kind of sentence. He starts out with a
leading declaration to which he adds several attendant connections. For instance in the
opening of the story of Robinson Crusoe we read: "I was born in the year 1632 in the city
of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of
Bremen, who settled first at Hull; he got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving off
his trade lived afterward at York, from whence he had married my mother, whose
relations were named Robinson, a very good family in the country and from I was called
Robinson Kreutznaer; but by the usual corruption of words in England, we are now
called, nay, we call ourselves, and write our name Crusoe, and so my companions always
called me."
In the periodic sentence the main idea comes last and is preceded by a series of relative
introductions. This kind of sentence is often introduced by such words as that, if, since,
because. The following is an example:
"That through his own folly and lack of circumspection he should have been reduced to
such circumstances as to be forced to become a beggar on the streets, soliciting alms from
those who had formerly been the recipients of his bounty, was a sore humiliation."
On account of its name many are liable to think the loose sentence an undesirable form in
good composition, but this should not be taken for granted. In many cases it is preferable
to the periodic form.
As a general rule in speaking, as opposed to writing, the loose form is to be preferred,
inasmuch as when the periodic is employed in discourse the listeners are apt to forget the
introductory clauses before the final issue is reached.
Both kinds are freely used in composition, but in speaking, the loose, which makes the
direct statement at the beginning, should predominate.
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As to the length of sentences much depends on the nature of the composition. However
the general rule may be laid down that short sentences are preferable to long ones. The
tendency of the best writers of the present day is towards short, snappy, pithy sentences
which rivet the attention of the reader. They adopt as their motto multum in parvo (much
in little) and endeavor to pack a great deal in small space. Of course the extreme of
brevity is to be avoided. Sentences can be too short, too jerky, too brittle to withstand the
test of criticism. The long sentence has its place and a very important one. It is
indispensable in argument and often is very necessary to description and also in
introducing general principles which require elaboration. In employing the long sentence
the inexperienced writer should not strain after the heavy, ponderous type. Johnson and
Carlyle used such a type, but remember, an ordinary mortal cannot wield the sledge
hammer of a giant. Johnson and Carlyle were intellectual giants and few can hope to
stand on the same literary pedestal. The tyro in composition should never seek after the
heavy style. The best of all authors in the English language for style is Addison.
Macaulay says: "If you wish a style learned, but not pedantic, elegant but not
ostentatious, simple yet refined, you must give your days and nights to the volumes of
Joseph Addison." The simplicity, apart from the beauty of Addison's writings causes us to
reiterate the literary command—"Never use a big word when a little one will convey the
same or a similar meaning."
Macaulay himself is an elegant stylist to imitate. He is like a clear brook kissed by the
noon-day sun in the shining bed of which you can see and count the beautiful white
pebbles. Goldsmith is another writer whose simplicity of style charms.
The beginner should study these writers, make their works his vade mecum, they have
stood the test of time and there has been no improvement upon them yet, nor is there
likely to be, for their writing is as perfect as it is possible to be in the English language.
Apart from their grammatical construction there can be no fixed rules for the formation of
sentences. The best plan is to follow the best authors and these masters of language will
guide you safely along the way.
THE PARAGRAPH
The paragraph may be defined as a group of sentences that are closely related in thought
and which serve one common purpose. Not only do they preserve the sequence of the
different parts into which a composition is divided, but they give a certain spice to the
matter like raisins in a plum pudding. A solid page of printed matter is distasteful to the
reader; it taxes the eye and tends towards the weariness of monotony, but when it is
broken up into sections it loses much of its heaviness and the consequent lightness gives
it charm, as it were, to capture the reader.
Paragraphs are like stepping-stones on the bed of a shallow river, which enable the foot
passenger to skip with ease from one to the other until he gets across; but if the stones are
placed too far apart in attempting to span the distance one is liable to miss the mark and
fall in the water and flounder about until he is again able to get a foothold. 'Tis the same
with written language, the reader by means of paragraphs can easily pass from one
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portion of connected thought to another and keep up his interest in the subject until he
gets to the end.
Throughout the paragraph there must be some connection in regard to the matter under
consideration,—a sentence dependency. For instance, in the same paragraph we must not
speak of a house on fire and a runaway horse unless there is some connection between the
two. We must not write consecutively:
"The fire raged with fierce intensity, consuming the greater part of the large building in a
short time." "The horse took fright and wildly dashed down the street scattering
pedestrians in all directions." These two sentences have no connection and therefore
should occupy separate and distinct places. But when we say—"The fire raged with fierce
intensity consuming the greater part of the large building in a short time and the horse
taking fright at the flames dashed wildly down the street scattering pedestrians in all
directions,"—there is a natural sequence, viz., the horse taking fright as a consequence of
the flames and hence the two expressions are combined in one paragraph.
As in the case of words in sentences, the most important places in a paragraph are the
beginning and the end. Accordingly the first sentence and the last should by virtue of
their structure and nervous force, compel the reader's attention. It is usually advisable to
make the first sentence short; the last sentence may be long or short, but in either case
should be forcible. The object of the first sentence is to state a point clearly; the last
sentence should enforce it.
It is a custom of good writers to make the conclusion of the paragraph a restatement or
counterpart or application of the opening.
In most cases a paragraph may be regarded as the elaboration of the principal sentence.
The leading thought or idea can be taken as a nucleus and around it constructed the
different parts of the paragraph. Anyone can make a context for every simple sentence by
asking himself questions in reference to the sentence. Thus—"The foreman gave the
order"— suggests at once several questions; "What was the order?" "to whom did he give
it?" "why did he give it?" "what was the result?" etc. These questions when answered will
depend upon the leading one and be an elaboration of it into a complete paragraph.
If we examine any good paragraph we shall find it made up of a number of items, each of
which helps to illustrate, confirm or enforce the general thought or purpose of the
paragraph. Also the transition from each item to the next is easy, natural and obvious; the
items seem to come of themselves. If, on the other hand, we detect in a paragraph one or
more items which have no direct bearing, or if we are unable to proceed readily from
item to item, especially if we are obliged to rearrange the items before we can perceive
their full significance, then we are justified in pronouncing the paragraph construction
faulty.
No specific rules can be given as to the construction of paragraphs. The best advice is,—
Study closely the paragraph structure of the best writers, for it is only through imitation,
conscious or unconscious of the best models, that one can master the art.
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The best paragraphist in the English language for the essay is Macaulay, the best model
to follow for the oratorical style is Edmund Burke and for description and narration
probably the greatest master of paragraph is the American Goldsmith, Washington Irving.
A paragraph is indicated in print by what is known as the indentation of the line, that is,
by commencing it a space from the left margin.
CHAPTER IV
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
Figures of Speech—Definitions and Examples —Use of Figures
In Figurative Language we employ words in such a way that they differ somewhat from
their ordinary signification in commonplace speech and convey our meaning in a more
vivid and impressive manner than when we use them in their every-day sense. Figures
make speech more effective, they beautify and emphasize it and give to it a relish and
piquancy as salt does to food; besides they add energy and force to expression so that it
irresistibly compels attention and interest. There are four kinds of figures, viz.: (1)
Figures of Orthography which change the spelling of a word; (2) Figures of Etymology
which change the form of words; (3) Figures of Syntax which change the construction of
sentences; (4) Figures of Rhetoric or the art of speaking and writing effectively which
change the mode of thought.
We shall only consider the last mentioned here as they are the most important, really
giving to language the construction and style which make it a fitting medium for the
intercommunication of ideas.
Figures of Rhetoric have been variously classified, some authorities extending the list to a
useless length. The fact is that any form of expression which conveys thought may be
classified as a Figure.
The principal figures as well as the most important and those oftenest used are, Simile,
Metaphor, Personification, Allegory, Synechdoche, Metonymy, Exclamation, Hyperbole,
Apostrophe, Vision, Antithesis, Climax, Epigram, Interrogation and Irony.
The first four are founded on resemblance, the second six on contiguity and the third five,
on contrast.
A Simile (from the Latin similis, like), is the likening of one thing to another, a statement
of the resemblance of objects, acts, or relations; as "In his awful anger he was like the
storm-driven waves dashing against the rock." A simile makes the principal object plainer
and impresses it more forcibly on the mind. "His memory is like wax to receive
impressions and like marble to retain them." This brings out the leading idea as to the
man's memory in a very forceful manner. Contrast it with the simple statement—"His
memory is good." Sometimes Simile is prostituted to a low and degrading use; as "His
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face was like a danger signal in a fog storm." "Her hair was like a furze-bush in bloom."
"He was to his lady love as a poodle to its mistress." Such burlesque is never permissible.
Mere likeness, it should be remembered, does not constitute a simile. For instance there is
no simile when one city is compared to another. In order that there may be a rhetorical
simile, the objects compared must be of different classes. Avoid the old trite similes such
as comparing a hero to a lion. Such were played out long ago. And don't hunt for
farfetched similes. Don't say—"Her head was glowing as the glorious god of day when he
sets in a flambeau of splendor behind the purple-tinted hills of the West." It is much
better to do without such a simile and simply say—"She had fiery red hair."
A Metaphor (from the Greek metapherein, to carry over or transfer), is a word used to
imply a resemblance but instead of likening one object to another as in the simile we
directly substitute the action or operation of one for another. If, of a religious man we
say,—"He is as a great pillar upholding the church," the expression is a simile, but if we
say—"He is a great pillar upholding the church" it is a metaphor. The metaphor is a
bolder and more lively figure than the simile. It is more like a picture and hence, the
graphic use of metaphor is called "word-painting." It enables us to give to the most
abstract ideas form, color and life. Our language is full of metaphors, and we very often
use them quite unconsciously. For instance, when we speak of the bed of a river, the
shoulder of a hill, the foot of a mountain, the hands of a clock, the key of a situation, we
are using metaphors.
Don't use mixed metaphors, that is, different metaphors in relation to the same subject:
"Since it was launched our project has met with much opposition, but while its flight has
not reached the heights ambitioned, we are yet sanguine we shall drive it to success."
Here our project begins as a ship, then becomes a bird and finally winds up as a horse.
Personification (from the Latin persona, person, and facere, to make) is the treating of an
inanimate object as if it were animate and is probably the most beautiful and effective of
all the figures.
"The mountains sing together, the hills rejoice and clap their hands."
"Earth felt the wound; and Nature from her seat,
Sighing, through all her works, gave signs of woe."
Personification depends much on a vivid imagination and is adapted especially to poetical
composition. It has two distinguishable forms: (1) when personality is ascribed to the
inanimate as in the foregoing examples, and (2) when some quality of life is attributed to
the inanimate; as, a raging storm; an angry sea; a whistling wind, etc.
An Allegory (from the Greek allos, other, and agoreuein, to speak), is a form of
expression in which the words are symbolical of something. It is very closely allied to the
metaphor, in fact is a continued metaphor.
Allegory, metaphor and simile have three points in common,—they are all founded on
resemblance. "Ireland is like a thorn in the side of England;" this is simile. "Ireland is a
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thorn in the side of England;" this is metaphor. "Once a great giant sprang up out of the
sea and lived on an island all by himself. On looking around he discovered a little girl on
another small island near by. He thought the little girl could be useful to him in many
ways so he determined to make her subservient to his will. He commanded her, but she
refused to obey, then he resorted to very harsh measures with the little girl, but she still
remained obstinate and obdurate. He continued to oppress her until finally she rebelled
and became as a thorn in his side to prick him for his evil attitude towards her;" this is an
allegory in which the giant plainly represents England and the little girl, Ireland; the
implication is manifest though no mention is made of either country. Strange to say the
most perfect allegory in the English language was written by an almost illiterate and
ignorant man, and written too, in a dungeon cell. In the "Pilgrim's Progress," Bunyan, the
itinerant tinker, has given us by far the best allegory ever penned. Another good one is
"The Faerie Queen" by Edmund Spenser.
Synecdoche (from the Greek, sun with, and ekdexesthai, to receive), is a figure of speech
which expresses either more or less than it literally denotes. By it we give to an object a
name which literally expresses something more or something less than we intend. Thus:
we speak of the world when we mean only a very limited number of the people who
compose the world: as, "The world treated him badly." Here we use the whole for a part.
But the most common form of this figure is that in which a part is used for the whole; as,
"I have twenty head of cattle," "One of his hands was assassinated," meaning one of his
men. "Twenty sail came into the harbor," meaning twenty ships. "This is a fine marble,"
meaning a marble statue.
Metonymy (from the Greek meta, change, and onyma, a name) is the designation of an
object by one of its accompaniments, in other words, it is a figure by which the name of
one object is put for another when the two are so related that the mention of one readily
suggests the other. Thus when we say of a drunkard—"He loves the bottle" we do not
mean that he loves the glass receptacle, but the liquor that it is supposed to contain.
Metonymy, generally speaking, has, three subdivisions: (1) when an effect is put for
cause or vice versa: as "Gray hairs should be respected," meaning old age. "He writes a
fine hand," that is, handwriting. (2) when the sign is put for the thing signified; as, "The
pen is mightier than the sword," meaning literary power is superior to military force. (3)
When the container is put for the thing contained; as "The House was called to order,"
meaning the members in the House.
Exclamation (from the Latin ex, out, and clamare, to cry), is a figure by which the
speaker instead of stating a fact, simply utters an expression of surprise or emotion. For
instance when he hears some harrowing tale of woe or misfortune instead of saying,—"It
is a sad story" he exclaims "What a sad story!"
Exclamation may be defined as the vocal expression of feeling, though it is also applied
to written forms which are intended to express emotion. Thus in describing a towering
mountain we can write "Heavens, what a piece of Nature's handiwork! how majestic!
how sublime! how awe-inspiring in its colossal impressiveness!" This figure rather
belongs to poetry and animated oratory than to the cold prose of every-day conversation
and writing.
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Hyperbole (from the Greek hyper, beyond, and ballein, to throw), is an exaggerated form
of statement and simply consists in representing things to be either greater or less, better
or worse than they really are. Its object is to make the thought more effective by
overstating it. Here are some examples:—"He was so tall his head touched the clouds."
"He was as thin as a poker." "He was so light that a breath might have blown him away."
Most people are liable to overwork this figure. We are all more or less given to
exaggeration and some of us do not stop there, but proceed onward to falsehood and
downright lying. There should be a limit to hyperbole, and in ordinary speech and writing
it should be well qualified and kept within reasonable bounds.
An Apostrophe (from the Greek apo, from, and strephein, to turn), is a direct address to
the absent as present, to the inanimate as living, or to the abstract as personal. Thus: "O,
illustrious Washington! Father of our Country! Could you visit us now!"
"My Country tis of thee—
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing."
"O! Grave, where is thy Victory, O! Death where is thy sting!" This figure is very closely
allied to Personification.
Vision (from the Latin videre, to see) consists in treating the past, the future, or the
remote as if present in time or place. It is appropriate to animated description, as it
produces the effect of an ideal presence. "The old warrior looks down from the canvas
and tells us to be men worthy of our sires."
This figure is much exemplified in the Bible. The book of Revelation is a vision of the
future. The author who uses the figure most is Carlyle.
An Antithesis (from the Greek anti, against, and tithenai, to set) is founded on contrast; it
consists in putting two unlike things in such a position that each will appear more striking
by the contrast.
"Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring out the false, ring in the true."
"Let us be friends in peace, but enemies in war."
Here is a fine antithesis in the description of a steam engine—"It can engrave a seal and
crush masses of obdurate metal before it; draw out, without breaking, a thread as fine as a
gossamer; and lift up a ship of war like a bauble in the air; it can embroider muslin and
forge anchors; cut steel into ribands, and impel loaded vessels against the fury of winds
and waves."
Climax (from the Greek, klimax, a ladder), is an arrangement of thoughts and ideas in a
series, each part of which gets stronger and more impressive until the last one, which
emphasizes the force of all the preceding ones. "He risked truth, he risked honor, he
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risked fame, he risked all that men hold dear,—yea, he risked life itself, and for what?—
for a creature who was not worthy to tie his shoe-latchets when he was his better self."
Epigram (from the Greek epi, upon, and graphein, to write), originally meant an
inscription on a monument, hence it came to signify any pointed expression. It now
means a statement or any brief saying in prose or poetry in which there is an apparent
contradiction; as, "Conspicuous for his absence." "Beauty when unadorned is most
adorned." "He was too foolish to commit folly." "He was so wealthy that he could not
spare the money."
Interrogation (from the Latin interrogatio, a question), is a figure of speech in which an
assertion is made by asking a question; as, "Does God not show justice to all?" "Is he not
doing right in his course?" "What can a man do under the circumstances?"
Irony (from the Greek eironcia, dissimulation) is a form of expression in which the
opposite is substituted for what is intended, with the end in view, that the falsity or
absurdity may be apparent; as, "Benedict Arnold was an honorable man." "A Judas
Iscariot never betrays a friend." "You can always depend upon the word of a liar."
Irony is cousin germain to ridicule, derision, mockery, satire and sarcasm. Ridicule
implies laughter mingled with contempt; derision is ridicule from a personal feeling of
hostility; mockery is insulting derision; satire is witty mockery; sarcasm is bitter satire
and irony is disguised satire.
There are many other figures of speech which give piquancy to language and play upon
words in such a way as to convey a meaning different from their ordinary signification in
common every-day speech and writing. The golden rule for all is to keep them in
harmony with the character and purpose of speech and composition.
CHAPTER V
PUNCTUATION
Principal Points—Illustrations—Capital Letters.
Lindley Murray and Goold Brown laid down cast-iron rules for punctuation, but most of
them have been broken long since and thrown into the junk-heap of disuse. They were
too rigid, too strict, went so much into minutiae, that they were more or less impractical
to apply to ordinary composition. The manner of language, of style and of expression has
considerably changed since then, the old abstruse complex sentence with its hidden
meanings has been relegated to the shade, there is little of prolixity or long-drawn-out
phrases, ambiguity of expression is avoided and the aim is toward terseness, brevity and
clearness. Therefore, punctuation has been greatly simplified, to such an extent indeed,
that it is now as much a matter of good taste and judgment as adherence to any fixed set
of rules. Nevertheless there are laws governing it which cannot be abrogated, their
principles must be rigidly and inviolably observed.
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The chief end of punctuation is to mark the grammatical connection and the dependence
of the parts of a composition, but not the actual pauses made in speaking. Very often the
points used to denote the delivery of a passage differ from those used when the passage is
written. Nevertheless, several of the punctuation marks serve to bring out the rhetorical
force of expression.
The principal marks of punctuation are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
The Comma [,]
The Semicolon [;]
The Colon [:]
The Period [.]
The Interrogation [?]
The Exclamation [!]
The Dash [—]
The Parenthesis [()]
The Quotation [" "]
There are several other points or marks to indicate various relations, but properly
speaking such come under the heading of Printer's Marks, some of which are treated
elsewhere.
Of the above, the first four may be styled the grammatical points, and the remaining five,
the rhetorical points.
The Comma: The office of the Comma is to show the slightest separation which calls for
punctuation at all. It should be omitted whenever possible. It is used to mark the least
divisions of a sentence.
1. A series of words or phrases has its parts separated by commas:—"Lying,
trickery, chicanery, perjury, were natural to him." "The brave, daring, faithful
soldier died facing the foe." If the series is in pairs, commas separate the pairs:
"Rich and poor, learned and unlearned, black and white, Christian and Jew,
Mohammedan and Buddhist must pass through the same gate."
2. A comma is used before a short quotation: "It was Patrick Henry who said, 'Give
me liberty or give me death.'"
3. When the subject of the sentence is a clause or a long phrase, a comma is used
after such subject: "That he has no reverence for the God I love, proves his
insincerity." "Simulated piety, with a black coat and a sanctimonious look, does
not proclaim a Christian."
4. An expression used parenthetically should be inclosed by commas: "The old man,
as a general rule, takes a morning walk."
5. Words in apposition are set off by commas: "McKinley, the President, was
assassinated."
6. Relative clauses, if not restrictive, require commas: "The book, which is the
simplest, is often the most profound."
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7. In continued sentences each should be followed by a comma: "Electricity lights
our dwellings and streets, pulls cars, trains, drives the engines of our mills and
factories."
8. When a verb is omitted a comma takes its place: "Lincoln was a great statesman;
Grant, a great soldier."
9. The subject of address is followed by a comma: "John, you are a good man."
10. In numeration, commas are used to express periods of three figures: "Mountains
25,000 feet high; 1,000,000 dollars."
The Semicolon marks a slighter connection than the comma. It is generally confined to
separating the parts of compound sentences. It is much used in contrasts:
1. "Gladstone was great as a statesman; he was sublime as a man."
2. The Semicolon is used between the parts of all compound sentences in which the
grammatical subject of the second part is different from that of the first: "The
power of England relies upon the wisdom of her statesmen; the power of America
upon the strength of her army and navy."
3. The Semicolon is used before words and abbreviations which introduce
particulars or specifications following after, such as, namely, as, e.g., vid., i.e.,
etc.: "He had three defects; namely, carelessness, lack of concentration and
obstinacy in his ideas." "An island is a portion of land entirely surrounded by
water; as Cuba." "The names of cities should always commence with a capital
letter; e.g., New York, Paris." "The boy was proficient in one branch; viz.,
Mathematics." "No man is perfect; i.e., free from all blemish."
The Colon except in conventional uses is practically obsolete.
1. It is generally put at the end of a sentence introducing a long quotation: "The
cheers having subsided, Mr. Bryan spoke as follows:"
2. It is placed before an explanation or illustration of the subject under
consideration: "This is the meaning of the term:"
3. A direct quotation formally introduced is generally preceded by a colon: "The
great orator made this funny remark:"
4. The colon is often used in the title of books when the secondary or subtitle is in
apposition to the leading one and when the conjunction or is omitted: "Acoustics:
the Science of Sound."
5. It is used after the salutation in the beginning of letters: "Sir: My dear Sir:
Gentlemen: Dear Mr. Jones:" etc. In this connection a dash very often follows the
colon.
6. It is sometimes used to introduce details of a group of things already referred to in
the mass: "The boy's excuses for being late were: firstly, he did not know the
time, secondly, he was sent on an errand, thirdly, he tripped on a rock and fell by
the wayside."
The Period is the simplest punctuation mark. It is simply used to mark the end of a
complete sentence that is neither interrogative nor exclamatory.
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1. After every sentence conveying a complete meaning: "Birds fly." "Plants grow."
"Man is mortal."
2. In abbreviations: after every abbreviated word: Rt. Rev. T. C. Alexander, D.D.,
L.L.D.
3. A period is used on the title pages of books after the name of the book, after the
author's name, after the publisher's imprint: American Trails. By Theodore
Roosevelt. New York. Scribner Company.
The Mark of Interrogation is used to ask or suggest a question.
1. Every question admitting of an answer, even when it is not expected, should be
followed by the mark of interrogation: "Who has not heard of Napoleon?"
2. When several questions have a common dependence they should be followed by
one mark of interrogation at the end of the series: "Where now are the playthings
and friends of my boyhood; the laughing boys; the winsome girls; the fond
neighbors whom I loved?"
3. The mark is often used parenthetically to suggest doubt: "In 1893 (?) Gladstone
became converted to Home Rule for Ireland."
The Exclamation point should be sparingly used, particularly in prose. Its chief use is to
denote emotion of some kind.
1. It is generally employed with interjections or clauses used as interjections: "Alas!
I am forsaken." "What a lovely landscape!"
2. Expressions of strong emotion call for the exclamation: "Charge, Chester, charge!
On, Stanley, on!"
3. When the emotion is very strong double exclamation points may be used: "Assist
him!! I would rather assist Satan!!"
The Dash is generally confined to cases where there is a sudden break from the general
run of the passage. Of all the punctuation marks it is the most misused.
1. It is employed to denote sudden change in the construction or sentiment: "The
Heroes of the Civil War,—how we cherish them." "He was a fine fellow—in his
own opinion."
2. When a word or expression is repeated for oratorical effect, a dash is used to
introduce the repetition: "Shakespeare was the greatest of all poets—Shakespeare,
the intellectual ocean whose waves washed the continents of all thought."
3. The Dash is used to indicate a conclusion without expressing it: "He is an
excellent man but—"
4. It is used to indicate what is not expected or what is not the natural outcome of
what has gone before: "He delved deep into the bowels of the earth and found
instead of the hidden treasure—a button."
5. It is used to denote the omission of letters or figures: "J—n J—s for John Jones;
1908-9 for 1908 and 1909; Matthew VII:5-8 for Matthew VII:5, 6, 7, and 8.
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6. When an ellipsis of the words, namely, that is, to wit, etc., takes place, the dash is
used to supply them: "He excelled in three branches—arithmetic, algebra, and
geometry."
7. A dash is used to denote the omission of part of a word when it is undesirable to
write the full word: He is somewhat of a r——l (rascal). This is especially the
case in profane words.
8. Between a citation and the authority for it there is generally a dash: "All the
world's a stage."—Shakespeare.
9. When questions and answers are put in the same paragraph they should be
separated by dashes: "Are you a good boy? Yes, Sir.—Do you love study? I do."
Marks of Parenthesis are used to separate expressions inserted in the body of a sentence,
which are illustrative of the meaning, but have no essential connection with the sentence,
and could be done without. They should be used as little as possible for they show that
something is being brought into a sentence that does not belong to it.
1. When the unity of a sentence is broken the words causing the break should be
enclosed in parenthesis: "We cannot believe a liar (and Jones is one), even when
he speaks the truth."
2. In reports of speeches marks of parenthesis are used to denote interpolations of
approval or disapproval by the audience: "The masses must not submit to the
tyranny of the classes (hear, hear), we must show the trust magnates (groans), that
they cannot ride rough-shod over our dearest rights (cheers);" "If the gentleman
from Ohio (Mr. Brown), will not be our spokesman, we must select another. (A
voice,—Get Robinson)."
When a parenthesis is inserted in the sentence where no comma is required, no point
should be used before either parenthesis. When inserted at a place requiring a comma, if
the parenthetical matter relates to the whole sentence, a comma should be used before
each parenthesis; if it relates to a single word, or short clause, no stop should come before
it, but a comma should be put after the closing parenthesis.
The Quotation marks are used to show that the words enclosed by them are borrowed.
1. A direct quotation should be enclosed within the quotation marks: Abraham
Lincoln said,—"I shall make this land too hot for the feet of slaves."
2. When a quotation is embraced within another, the contained quotation has only
single marks: Franklin said, "Most men come to believe 'honesty is the best
policy.'"
3. When a quotation consists of several paragraphs the quotation marks should
precede each paragraph.
4. Titles of books, pictures and newspapers when formally given are quoted.
5. Often the names of ships are quoted though there is no occasion for it.
The Apostrophe should come under the comma rather than under the quotation marks or
double comma. The word is Greek and signifies a turning away from. The letter elided or
turned away is generally an e. In poetry and familiar dialogue the apostrophe marks the
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elision of a syllable, as "I've for I have"; "Thou'rt for thou art"; "you'll for you will," etc.
Sometimes it is necessary to abbreviate a word by leaving out several letters. In such case
the apostrophe takes the place of the omitted letters as "cont'd for continued." The
apostrophe is used to denote the elision of the century in dates, where the century is
understood or to save the repetition of a series of figures, as "The Spirit of '76"; "I served
in the army during the years 1895, '96, '97, '98 and '99." The principal use of the
apostrophe is to denote the possessive case. All nouns in the singular number whether
proper names or not, and all nouns in the plural ending with any other letter than s, form
the possessive by the addition of the apostrophe and the letter s. The only exceptions to
this rule are, that, by poetical license the additional s may be elided in poetry for sake of
the metre, and in the scriptural phrases "For goodness' sake." "For conscience' sake," "For
Jesus' sake," etc. Custom has done away with the s and these phrases are now idioms of
the language. All plural nouns ending in s form the possessive by the addition of the
apostrophe only as boys', horses'. The possessive case of the personal pronouns never
take the apostrophe, as ours, yours, hers, theirs.
CAPITAL LETTERS
Capital letters are used to give emphasis to or call attention to certain words to
distinguish them from the context. In manuscripts they may be written small or large and
are indicated by lines drawn underneath, two lines for SMALL CAPITALS and three
lines for CAPITALS.
Some authors, notably Carlyle, make such use of Capitals that it degenerates into an
abuse. They should only be used in their proper places as given in the table below.
1. The first word of every sentence, in fact the first word in writing of any kind
should begin with a capital; as, "Time flies." "My dear friend."
2. Every direct quotation should begin with a capital; "Dewey said,—'Fire, when
you're ready, Gridley!'"
3. Every direct question commences with a capital; "Let me ask you; 'How old are
you?'"
4. Every line of poetry begins with a capital; "Breathes there a man with soul so
dead?"
5. Every numbered clause calls for a capital: "The witness asserts: (1) That he saw
the man attacked; (2) That he saw him fall; (3) That he saw his assailant flee."
6. The headings of essays and chapters should be wholly in capitals; as, CHAPTER
VIII—RULES FOR USE OF CAPITALS.
7. In the titles of books, nouns, pronouns, adjectives and adverbs should begin with a
capital; as, "Johnson's Lives of the Poets."
8. In the Roman notation numbers are denoted by capitals; as, I II III V X L C D
M—1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000.
9. Proper names begin with a capital; as, "Jones, Johnson, Caesar, Mark Antony,
England, Pacific, Christmas."
Such words as river, sea, mountain, etc., when used generally are common, not
proper nouns, and require no capital. But when such are used with an adjective or
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adjunct to specify a particular object they become proper names, and therefore
require a capital; as, "Mississippi River, North Sea, Alleghany Mountains," etc. In
like manner the cardinal points north, south, east and west, when they are used to
distinguish regions of a country are capitals; as, "The North fought against the
South."
When a proper name is compounded with another word, the part which is not a
proper name begins with a capital if it precedes, but with a small letter if it
follows, the hyphen; as "Post-homeric," "Sunday-school."
10. Words derived from proper names require a Capital; as, "American, Irish,
Christian, Americanize, Christianize."
In this connection the names of political parties, religious sects and schools of
thought begin with capitals; as, "Republican, Democrat, Whig, Catholic,
Presbyterian, Rationalists, Free Thinkers."
11. The titles of honorable, state and political offices begin with a capital; as,
"President, Chairman, Governor, Alderman."
12. The abbreviations of learned titles and college degrees call for capitals; as,
"LL.D., M.A., B.S.," etc. Also the seats of learning conferring such degrees as,
"Harvard University, Manhattan College," etc.
13. When such relative words as father, mother, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, etc.,
precede a proper name, they are written and printed with capitals; as, Father
Abraham, Mother Eddy, Brother John, Sister Jane, Uncle Jacob, Aunt Eliza.
Father, when used to denote the early Christian writer, is begun with a capital;
"Augustine was one of the learned Fathers of the Church."
14. The names applied to the Supreme Being begin with capitals: "God, Lord,
Creator, Providence, Almighty, The Deity, Heavenly Father, Holy One." In this
respect the names applied to the Saviour also require capitals: "Jesus Christ, Son
of God, Man of Galilee, The Crucified, The Anointed One." Also the designations
of Biblical characters as "Lily of Israel, Rose of Sharon, Comfortress of the
Afflicted, Help of Christians, Prince of the Apostles, Star of the Sea," etc.
Pronouns referring to God and Christ take capitals; as, "His work, The work of
Him, etc."
15. Expressions used to designate the Bible or any particular division of it begin with
a capital; as, "Holy Writ, The Sacred Book, Holy Book, God's Word, Old
Testament, New Testament, Gospel of St. Matthew, Seven Penitential Psalms."
16. Expressions based upon the Bible or in reference to Biblical characters begin with
a capital: "Water of Life, Hope of Men, Help of Christians, Scourge of Nations."
17. The names applied to the Evil One require capitals: "Beelzebub, Prince of
Darkness, Satan, King of Hell, Devil, Incarnate Fiend, Tempter of Men, Father of
Lies, Hater of Good."
18. Words of very special importance, especially those which stand out as the names
of leading events in history, have capitals; as, "The Revolution, The Civil War,
The Middle Ages, The Age of Iron," etc.
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19. Terms which refer to great events in the history of the race require capitals; "The
Flood, Magna Charta, Declaration of Independence."
20. The names of the days of the week and the months of the year and the seasons are
commenced with capitals: "Monday, March, Autumn."
21. The Pronoun I and the interjection O always require the use of capitals. In fact all
the interjections when uttered as exclamations commence with capitals: "Alas! he
is gone." "Ah! I pitied him."
22. All noms-de-guerre, assumed names, as well as names given for distinction, call
for capitals, as, "The Wizard of the North," "Paul Pry," "The Northern Gael,"
"Sandy Sanderson," "Poor Robin," etc.
23. In personification, that is, when inanimate things are represented as endowed with
life and action, the noun or object personified begins with a capital; as, "The
starry Night shook the dews from her wings." "Mild-eyed Day appeared," "The
Oak said to the Beech—'I am stronger than you.'"
CHAPTER VI
LETTER WRITING
Principles of Letter-Writing—Forms—Notes
Many people seem to regard letter-writing as a very simple and easily acquired branch,
but on the contrary it is one of the most difficult forms of composition and requires much
patience and labor to master its details. In fact there are very few perfect letter-writers in
the language. It constitutes the direct form of speech and may be called conversation at a
distance. Its forms are so varied by every conceivable topic written at all times by all
kinds of persons in all kinds of moods and tempers and addressed to all kinds of persons
of varying degrees in society and of different pursuits in life, that no fixed rules can be
laid down to regulate its length, style or subject matter. Only general suggestions can be
made in regard to scope and purpose, and the forms of indicting set forth which custom
and precedent have sanctioned.
The principles of letter-writing should be understood by everybody who has any
knowledge of written language, for almost everybody at some time or other has necessity
to address some friend or acquaintance at a distance, whereas comparatively few are
called upon to direct their efforts towards any other kind of composition.
Formerly the illiterate countryman, when he had occasion to communicate with friends or
relations, called in the peripatetic schoolmaster as his amanuensis, but this had one drawback,—secrets had to be poured into an ear other than that for which they were intended,
and often the confidence was betrayed.
Now, that education is abroad in the land, there is seldom any occasion for any person to
call upon the service of another to compose and write a personal letter. Very few now-adays are so grossly illiterate as not to be able to read and write. No matter how crude his
effort may be it is better for any one to write his own letters than trust to another. Even if
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he should commence,—"deer fren, i lift up my pen to let ye no that i hove been sik for the
past 3 weeks, hopping this will findye the same," his spelling and construction can be
excused in view of the fact that his intention is good, and that he is doing his best to serve
his own turn without depending upon others.
The nature, substance and tone of any letter depend upon the occasion that calls it forth,
upon the person writing it and upon the person for whom it is intended. Whether it should
be easy or formal in style, plain or ornate, light or serious, gay or grave, sentimental or
matter-of-fact depend upon these three circumstances.
In letter writing the first and most important requisites are to be natural and simple; there
should be no straining after effect, but simply a spontaneous out-pouring of thoughts and
ideas as they naturally occur to the writer. We are repelled by a person who is stiff and
labored in his conversation and in the same way the stiff and labored letter bores the
reader. Whereas if it is light and in a conversational vein it immediately engages his
attention.
The letter which is written with the greatest facility is the best kind of letter because it
naturally expresses what is in the writer, he has not to search for his words, they flow in a
perfect unison with the ideas he desires to communicate. When you write to your friend
John Browne to tell him how you spent Sunday you have not to look around for the
words, or study set phrases with a view to please or impress Browne, you just tell him the
same as if he were present before you, how you spent the day, where you were, with
whom you associated and the chief incidents that occurred during the time. Thus, you
write natural and it is such writing that is adapted to epistolary correspondence.
There are different kinds of letters, each calling for a different style of address and
composition, nevertheless the natural key should be maintained in all, that is to say, the
writer should never attempt to convey an impression that he is other than what he is. It
would be silly as well as vain for the common street laborer of a limited education to try
to put on literary airs and emulate a college professor; he may have as good a brain, but it
is not as well developed by education, and he lacks the polish which society confers.
When writing a letter the street laborer should bear in mind that only the letter of a streetlaborer is expected from him, no matter to whom his communication may be addressed
and that neither the grammar nor the diction of a Chesterfield or Gladstone is looked for
in his language. Still the writer should keep in mind the person to whom he is writing. If
it is to an Archbishop or some other great dignitary of Church or state it certainly should
be couched in terms different from those he uses to John Browne, his intimate friend. Just
as he cannot say "Dear John" to an Archbishop, no more can he address him in the
familiar words he uses to his friend of everyday acquaintance and companionship. Yet
there is no great learning required to write to an Archbishop, no more than to an ordinary
individual. All the laborer needs to know is the form of address and how to properly
utilize his limited vocabulary to the best advantage. Here is the form for such a letter:
17 Second Avenue,
New York City.
January 1st, 1910.
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Most Rev. P. A. Jordan,
Archbishop of New York.
Most Rev. and dear Sir:—
While sweeping the crossing at Fifth
Avenue and 50th street on last Wednesday
morning, I found the enclosed Fifty Dollar
Bill, which I am sending to you in the hope
that it may be restored to the rightful
owner.
I beg you will acknowledge receipt and
should the owner be found I trust you will
notify me, so that I may claim some reward
for my honesty.
I am, Most Rev. and dear Sir,
Very respectfully yours,
Thomas Jones.
Observe the brevity of the letter. Jones makes no suggestions to the Archbishop how to
find the owner, for he knows the course the Archbishop will adopt, of having the finding
of the bill announced from the Church pulpits. Could Jones himself find the owner there
would be no occasion to apply to the Archbishop.
This letter, it is true, is different from that which he would send to Browne. Nevertheless
it is simple without being familiar, is just a plain statement, and is as much to the point
for its purpose as if it were garnished with rhetoric and "words of learned length and
thundering sound."
Letters may be divided into those of friendship, acquaintanceship, those of business
relations, those written in an official capacity by public servants, those designed to teach,
and those which give accounts of the daily happenings on the stage of life, in other
words, news letters.
Letters of friendship are the most common and their style and form depend upon the
degree of relationship and intimacy existing between the writers and those addressed.
Between relatives and intimate friends the beginning and end may be in the most familiar
form of conversation, either affectionate or playful. They should, however, never
overstep the boundaries of decency and propriety, for it is well to remember that, unlike
conversation, which only is heard by the ears for which it is intended, written words may
come under eyes other than those for whom they were designed. Therefore, it is well
never to write anything which the world may not read without detriment to your character
or your instincts. You can be joyful, playful, jocose, give vent to your feelings, but never
stoop to low language and, above all, to language savoring in the slightest degree of
moral impropriety.
Business letters are of the utmost importance on account of the interests involved. The
business character of a man or of a firm is often judged by the correspondence. On many
occasions letters instead of developing trade and business interests and gaining clientele,
predispose people unfavorably towards those whom they are designed to benefit.
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Ambiguous, slip-shod language is a detriment to success. Business letters should be clear,
concise, to the point and, above all, honest, giving no wrong impressions or holding out
any inducements that cannot be fulfilled. In business letters, just as in business conduct,
honesty is always the best policy.
Official letters are mostly always formal. They should possess clearness, brevity and
dignity of tone to impress the receivers with the proper respect for the national laws and
institutions.
Letters designed to teach or didactic letters are in a class all by themselves. They are
simply literature in the form of letters and are employed by some of the best writers to
give their thoughts and ideas a greater emphasis. The most conspicuous example of this
kind of composition is the book on Etiquette by Lord Chesterfield, which took the form
of a series of letters to his son.
News letters are accounts of world happenings and descriptions of ceremonies and events
sent into the newspapers. Some of the best authors of our time are newspaper men who
write in an easy flowing style which is most readable, full of humor and fancy and which
carries one along with breathless interest from beginning to end.
The principal parts of a letter are (1) the heading or introduction; (2) the body or
substance of the letter; (3) the subscription or closing expression and signature; (4) the
address or direction on the envelope. For the body of a letter no forms or rules can be laid
down as it altogether depends on the nature of the letter and the relationship between the
writer and the person addressed.
There are certain rules which govern the other three features and which custom has
sanctioned. Every one should be acquainted with these rules.
THE HEADING
The Heading has three parts, viz., the name of the place, the date of writing and the
designation of the person or persons addressed; thus:
73 New Street,
Newark, N. J.,
February 1st, 1910.
Messr. Ginn and Co.,
New York
Gentlemen:
The name of the place should never be omitted; in cities, street and number should
always be given, and except when the city is large and very conspicuous, so that there can
be no question as to its identity with another of the same or similar name, the
abbreviation of the State should be appended, as in the above, Newark, N. J. There is
another Newark in the State of Ohio. Owing to failure to comply with this rule many
letters go astray. The date should be on every letter, especially business letters. The date
should never be put at the bottom in a business letter, but in friendly letters this may be
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done. The designation of the person or persons addressed differs according to the
relations of the correspondents. Letters of friendship may begin in many ways according
to the degrees of friendship or intimacy. Thus:
My dear Wife:
My dear Husband:
My dear Friend:
My darling Mother:
My dearest Love:
Dear Aunt:
Dear Uncle:
Dear George: etc.
To mark a lesser degree of intimacy such formal designations as the following may be
employed:
Dear Sir:
My dear Sir:
Dear Mr. Smith:
Dear Madam: etc.
For clergymen who have the degree of Doctor of Divinity, the designation is as follows:
Rev. Alban Johnson, D. D.
My dear Sir: or Rev. and dear Sir: or more familiarly
Dear Dr. Johnson:
Bishops of the Roman and Anglican Communions are addressed as Right Reverend.
The Rt. Rev., the Bishop of Long Island. or
The Rt. Rev. Frederick Burgess, Bishop of Long Island.
Rt. Rev. and dear Sir:
Archbishops of the Roman Church are addressed as Most Reverend and Cardinals as
Eminence. Thus:
The Most Rev. Archbishop Katzer.
Most Rev. and dear Sir:
His Eminence, James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of
Baltimore.
May it please your Eminence:
The title of the Governor of a State or territory and of the President of the United States is
Excellency. However, Honorable is more commonly applied to Governors:—
His Excellency, William Howard Taft,
President of the United States.
Sir:—
His Excellency, Charles Evans Hughes,
Governor of the State of New York.
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Sir:—
Honorable Franklin Fort,
Governor of New Jersey.
Sir:—
The general salutation for Officers of the Army and Navy is Sir. The rank and station
should be indicated in full at the head of the letter, thus:
General Joseph Thompson,
Commanding the Seventh Infantry.
Sir:
Rear Admiral Robert Atkinson,
Commanding the Atlantic Squadron.
Sir:
The title of officers of the Civil Government is Honorable and they are addressed as Sir.
Hon. Nelson Duncan,
Senator from Ohio.
Sir:
Hon. Norman Wingfield,
Secretary of the Treasury.
Sir:
Hon. Rupert Gresham,
Mayor of New York.
Sir:
Presidents and Professors of Colleges and Universities are generally addressed as Sir or
Dear Sir.
Professor Ferguson Jenks,
President of .......... University.
Sir: or Dear Sir:
Presidents of Societies and Associations are treated as business men and addressed as Sir
or Dear Sir.
Mr. Joseph Banks,
President of the Night Owls.
Dear Sir: or Sir:
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Doctors of Medicine are addressed as Sir: My dear Sir: Dear Sir: and more familiarly
My dear Dr: or Dear Dr: as
Ryerson Pitkin, M. D.
Sir:
Dear Sir:
My dear Dr:
Ordinary people with no degrees or titles are addressed as Mr. and Mrs. and are designed
Dear Sir: Dear Madam: and an unmarried woman of any age is addressed on the envelope
as Miss So-and-so, but always designed in the letter as
Dear Madam:
The plural of Mr. as in addressing a firm is Messrs, and the corresponding salutation is
Dear Sirs: or Gentlemen:
In England Esq. is used for Mr. as a mark of slight superiority and in this country it is
sometimes used, but it is practically obsolete. Custom is against it and American
sentiment as well. If it is used it should be only applied to lawyers and justices of the
peace.
SUBSCRIPTION
The Subscription or ending of a letter consists of the term of respect or affection and the
signature. The term depends upon the relation of the person addressed. Letters of
friendship can close with such expressions as:
Yours lovingly,
Yours affectionately,
Devotedly yours,
Ever yours, etc.
as between husbands and wives or between lovers. Such gushing terminations as Your
Own Darling, Your own Dovey and other pet and silly endings should be avoided, as
they denote shallowness. Love can be strongly expressed without dipping into the
nonsensical and the farcical.
Formal expressions of Subscription are:
Yours Sincerely,
Yours truly,
Respectfully yours,
and the like, and these may be varied to denote the exact bearing or attitude the writer
wishes to assume to the person addressed: as,
Very sincerely yours,
Very respectfully yours,
With deep respect yours,
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Yours very truly, etc.
Such elaborate endings as
"In the meantime with the highest respect, I am yours to command,"
"I have the honor to be, Sir, Your humble Servant,"
"With great expression of esteem, I am Sincerely yours,"
"Believe me, my dear Sir, Ever faithfully yours,"
are condemned as savoring too much of affectation.
It is better to finish formal letters without any such qualifying remarks. If you are writing
to Mr. Ryan to tell him that you have a house for sale, after describing the house and
stating the terms simply sign yourself
Your obedient Servant
Yours very truly,
Yours with respect,
James Wilson.
Don't say you have the honor to be anything or ask him to believe anything, all you want
to tell him is that you have a house for sale and that you are sincere, or hold him in
respect as a prospective customer.
Don't abbreviate the signature as: Y'rs Resp'fly and always make your sex obvious. Write
plainly
Yours truly,
John Field
and not J. Field, so that the person to whom you send it may not take you for Jane Field.
It is always best to write the first name in full. Married women should prefix Mrs. to their
names, as
Very sincerely yours,
Mrs. Theodore Watson.
If you are sending a letter acknowledging a compliment or some kindness done you may
say, Yours gratefully, or Yours very gratefully, in proportion to the act of kindness
received.
It is not customary to sign letters of degrees or titles after your name, except you are a
lord, earl or duke and only known by the title, but as we have no such titles in America it
is unnecessary to bring this matter into consideration. Don't sign yourself,
Sincerely yours,
Obadiah Jackson, M.A. or L.L. D.
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If you're an M. A. or an L.L. D. people generally know it without your sounding your
own trumpet. Many people, and especially clergymen, are fond of flaunting after their
names degrees they have received honoris causa, that is, degrees as a mark of honor,
without examination. Such degrees should be kept in the background. Many a deadhead
has these degrees which he could never have earned by brain work.
Married women whose husbands are alive may sign the husband's name with the prefix
Mrs: thus,
Yours sincerely,
Mrs. William Southey.
but when the husband is dead the signature should be—
Yours sincerely,
Mrs. Sarah Southey.
So when we receive a letter from a woman we are enabled to tell whether she has a
husband living or is a widow. A woman separated from her husband but not a divorcee
should not sign his name.
ADDRESS
The address of a letter consists of the name, the title and the residence.
Mr. Hugh Black,
112 Southgate Street,
Altoona,
Pa.
Intimate friends have often familiar names for each other, such as pet names, nicknames,
etc., which they use in the freedom of conversation, but such names should never, under
any circumstances, appear on the envelope. The subscription on the envelope should be
always written with propriety and correctness and as if penned by an entire stranger. The
only difficulty in the envelope inscription is the title. Every man is entitled to Mr. and
every lady to Mrs. and every unmarried lady to Miss. Even a boy is entitled to Master.
When more than one is addressed the title is Messrs. Mesdames is sometimes written of
women. If the person addressed has a title it is courteous to use it, but titles never must be
duplicated. Thus, we can write
Robert Stitt, M. D., but never
Dr. Robert Stitt, M. D, or
Mr. Robert Stitt, M. D.
In writing to a medical doctor it is well to indicate his profession by the letters M. D. so
as to differentiate him from a D. D. It is better to write Robert Stitt, M. D., than Dr.
Robert Stitt.
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In the case of clergymen the prefix Rev. is retained even when they have other titles; as
Rev. Tracy Tooke, LL. D.
When a person has more titles than one it is customary to only give him the leading one.
Thus instead of writing Rev. Samuel MacComb, B. A., M. A., B. Sc., Ph. D., LL. D., D.
D. the form employed is Rev. Samuel MacComb, LL. D. LL. D. is appended in
preference to D. D. because in most cases the "Rev." implies a "D. D." while
comparatively few with the prefix "Rev." are entitled to "LL. D."
In the case of Honorables such as Governors, Judges, Members of Congress, and others
of the Civil Government the prefix "Hon." does away with Mr. and Esq. Thus we write
Hon. Josiah Snifkins, not Hon. Mr. Josiah Snifkins or Hon. Josiah Snifkins, Esq. Though
this prefix Hon. is also often applied to Governors they should be addressed as
Excellency. For instance:
His Excellency,
Charles E. Hughes,
Albany,
N. Y.
In writing to the President the superscription on the envelope should be
To the President,
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C.
Professional men such as doctors and lawyers as well as those having legitimately earned
College Degrees may be addressed on the envelopes by their titles, as
Jonathan Janeway, M. D.
Hubert Houston, B. L.
Matthew Marks, M. A., etc.
The residence of the person addressed should be plainly written out in full. The street and
numbers should be given and the city or town written very legibly. If the abbreviation of
the State is liable to be confounded or confused with that of another then the full name of
the State should be written. In writing the residence on the envelope, instead of putting it
all in one line as is done at the head of a letter, each item of the residence forms a
separate line. Thus,
Liberty,
Sullivan County,
New York.
215 Minna St.,
San Francisco,
California.
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There should be left a space for the postage stamp in the upper right hand corner. The
name and title should occupy a line that is about central between the top of the envelope
and the bottom. The name should neither be too much to right or left but located in the
centre, the beginning and end at equal distances from either end.
In writing to large business concerns which are well known or to public or city officials it
is sometimes customary to leave out number and street. Thus,
Messrs. Seigel, Cooper Co.,
New York City,
Hon. William J. Gaynor,
New York City.
NOTES
Notes may be regarded as letters in miniature confined chiefly to invitations, acceptances,
regrets and introductions, and modern etiquette tends towards informality in their
composition. Card etiquette, in fact, has taken the place of ceremonious correspondence
and informal notes are now the rule. Invitations to dinner and receptions are now mostly
written on cards. "Regrets" are sent back on visiting cards with just the one word
"Regrets" plainly written thereon. Often on cards and notes of invitation we find the
letters R. S. V. P. at the bottom. These letters stand for the French repondez s'il vous
plait, which means "Reply, if you please," but there is no necessity to put this on an
invitation card as every well-bred person knows that a reply is expected. In writing notes
to young ladies of the same family it should be noted that the eldest daughter of the house
is entitled to the designation Miss without any Christian name, only the surname
appended. Thus if there are three daughters in the Thompson family Martha, the eldest,
Susan and Jemina, Martha is addressed as Miss Thompson and the other two as Miss
Susan Thompson and Miss Jemina Thompson respectively.
Don't write the word addressed on the envelope of a note.
Don't seal a note delivered by a friend.
Don't write a note on a postal card.
Here are a few common forms:—
FORMAL INVITATIONS
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wagstaff request the
honor of Mr. McAdoo's presence on Friday
evening, June 15th, at 8 o'clock to meet the
Governor of the Fort.
19 Woodbine Terrace
June 8th, 1910.
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This is an invitation to a formal reception calling for evening dress. Here is Mr.
McAdoo's reply in the third person:—
Mr. McAdoo presents his compliments to
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wagstaff and accepts with
great pleasure their invitation to meet the
Governor of the Fort on the evening of June
fifteenth.
215 Beacon Street,
June 10th, 1910.
Here is how Mr. McAdoo might decline the invitation:—
Mr. McAdoo regrets that owing to a prior
engagement he must forego the honor of paying
his respects to Mr. and Mrs. Wagstaff and the
Governor of the Fort on the evening of June
fifteenth.
215 Beacon St.,
June 10th, 1910.
Here is a note addressed, say to Mr. Jeremiah Reynolds.
Mr. and Mrs. Oldham at home on Wednesday
evening October ninth from seven to eleven.
21 Ashland Avenue,
October 5th.
Mr. Reynolds makes reply:—
Mr. Reynolds accepts with high appreciation
the honor of Mr. and Mrs. Oldham's invitation
for Wednesday evening October ninth.
Windsor Hotel
October 7th
or
Mr. Reynolds regrets that his duties render
it impossible for him to accept Mr. and Mrs.
Oldham's kind invitation for the evening of
October ninth.
Windsor Hotel,
October 7th,
Sometimes less informal invitations are sent on small specially designed note paper in
which the first person takes the place of the third. Thus
360 Pine St.,
Dec. 11th, 1910.
Dear Mr. Saintsbury:
Mr. Johnson and I should be much pleased to
have you dine with us and a few friends next
Thursday, the fifteenth, at half past seven.
Yours sincerely,
Emma Burnside.
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Mr. Saintsbury's reply:
57 Carlyle Strand
Dec. 13th, 1910.
Dear Mrs. Burnside:
Let me accept very appreciatively your
invitation to dine with Mr. Burnside and you
on next Thursday, the fifteenth, at half past
seven.
Yours sincerely,
Henry Saintsbury.
Mrs. Alexander Burnside.
NOTES OF INTRODUCTION
Notes of introduction should be very circumspect as the writers are in reality vouching
for those whom they introduce. Here is a specimen of such a note.
603 Lexington Ave.,
New York City,
June 15th, 1910.
Rev. Cyrus C. Wiley, D. D.,
Newark, N. J.
My dear Dr. Wiley:
I take the liberty of
presenting to you my friend, Stacy Redfern,
M. D., a young practitioner, who is anxious
to locate in Newark. I have known him many
years and can vouch for his integrity and
professional standing. Any courtesy and
kindness which you may show him will be very
much appreciated by me.
Very sincerely yours,
Franklin Jewett.
CHAPTER VII
ERRORS
Mistakes—Slips of Authors—Examples and Corrections—Errors of Redundancy.
In the following examples the word or words in parentheses are uncalled for and should
be omitted:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Fill the glass (full).
They appeared to be talking (together) on private affairs.
I saw the boy and his sister (both) in the garden.
He went into the country last week and returned (back) yesterday.
The subject (matter) of his discourse was excellent.
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6. You need not wonder that the (subject) matter of his discourse was excellent; it
was taken from the Bible.
7. They followed (after) him, but could not overtake him.
8. The same sentiments may be found throughout (the whole of) the book.
9. I was very ill every day (of my life) last week.
10. That was the (sum and) substance of his discourse.
11. He took wine and water and mixed them (both) together.
12. He descended (down) the steps to the cellar.
13. He fell (down) from the top of the house.
14. I hope you will return (again) soon.
15. The things he took away he restored (again).
16. The thief who stole my watch was compelled to restore it (back again).
17. It is equally (the same) to me whether I have it today or tomorrow.
18. She said, (says she) the report is false; and he replied, (says he) if it be not correct
I have been misinformed.
19. I took my place in the cars (for) to go to New York.
20. They need not (to) call upon him.
21. Nothing (else) but that would satisfy him.
22. Whenever I ride in the cars I (always) find it prejudicial to my health.
23. He was the first (of all) at the meeting.
24. He was the tallest of (all) the brothers.
25. You are the tallest of (all) your family.
26. Whenever I pass the house he is (always) at the door.
27. The rain has penetrated (through) the roof.
28. Besides my uncle and aunt there was (also) my grandfather at the church.
29. It should (ever) be your constant endeavor to please your family.
30. If it is true as you have heard (then) his situation is indeed pitiful.
31. Either this (here) man or that (there) woman has (got) it.
32. Where is the fire (at)?
33. Did you sleep in church? Not that I know (of).
34. I never before (in my life) met (with) such a stupid man.
35. (For) why did he postpone it?
36. Because (why) he could not attend.
37. What age is he? (Why) I don't know.
38. He called on me (for) to ask my opinion.
39. I don't know where I am (at).
40. I looked in (at) the window.
41. I passed (by) the house.
42. He (always) came every Sunday.
43. Moreover, (also) we wish to say he was in error.
44. It is not long (ago) since he was here.
45. Two men went into the wood (in order) to cut (down) trees.
Further examples of redundancy might be multiplied. It is very common in newspaper
writing where not alone single words but entire phrases are sometimes brought in, which
are unnecessary to the sense or explanation of what is written.
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GRAMMATICAL ERRORS OF STANDARD AUTHORS
Even the best speakers and writers are sometimes caught napping. Many of our standard
authors to whom we have been accustomed to look up as infallible have sinned more or
less against the fundamental principles of grammar by breaking the rules regarding one or
more of the nine parts of speech. In fact some of them have recklessly trespassed against
all nine, and still they sit on their pedestals of fame for the admiration of the crowd.
Macaulay mistreated the article. He wrote,—"That a historian should not record trifles is
perfectly true." He should have used an.
Dickens also used the article incorrectly. He refers to "Robinson Crusoe" as "an
universally popular book," instead of a universally popular book.
The relation between nouns and pronouns has always been a stumbling block to speakers
and writers. Hallam in his Literature of Europe writes, "No one as yet had exhibited the
structure of the human kidneys, Vesalius having only examined them in dogs." This
means that Vesalius examined human kidneys in dogs. The sentence should have been,
"No one had as yet exhibited the kidneys in human beings, Vesalius having examined
such organs in dogs only."
Sir Arthur Helps in writing of Dickens, states—"I knew a brother author of his who
received such criticisms from him (Dickens) very lately and profited by it." Instead of it
the word should be them to agree with criticisms.
Here are a few other pronominal errors from leading authors:
"Sir Thomas Moore in general so writes it, although not many others so late as him."
Should be he.—Trench's English Past and Present.
"What should we gain by it but that we should speedily become as poor as them." Should
be they.—Alison's Essay on Macaulay.
"If the king gives us leave you or I may as lawfully preach, as them that do." Should be
they or those, the latter having persons understood.—Hobbes's History of Civil Wars.
"The drift of all his sermons was, to prepare the Jews for the reception of a prophet,
mightier than him, and whose shoes he was not worthy to bear." Should be than he.—
Atterbury's Sermons.
"Phalaris, who was so much older than her." Should be she.—Bentley's Dissertation on
Phalaris.
"King Charles, and more than him, the duke and the Popish faction were at liberty to
form new schemes." Should be than he.—Bolingbroke's Dissertations on Parties.
"We contributed a third more than the Dutch, who were obliged to the same proportion
more than us." Should be than we.—Swift's Conduct of the Allies.
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In all the above examples the objective cases of the pronouns have been used while the
construction calls for nominative cases.
"Let thou and I the battle try"—Anon.
Here let is the governing verb and requires an objective case after it; therefore instead of
thou and I, the words should be you (sing.) and me.
"Forever in this humble cell, Let thee and I, my fair one, dwell"—Prior.
Here thee and I should be the objectives you and me.
The use of the relative pronoun trips the greatest number of authors.
Even in the Bible we find the relative wrongly translated:
Whom do men say that I am?—St. Matthew.
Whom think ye that I am?—Acts of the Apostles.
Who should be written in both cases because the word is not in the objective governed by
say or think, but in the nominative dependent on the verb am.
"Who should I meet at the coffee house t'other night, but my old friend?"—Steele.
"It is another pattern of this answerer's fair dealing, to give us hints that the author is
dead, and yet lay the suspicion upon somebody, I know not who, in the country."—
Swift's Tale of a Tub.
"My son is going to be married to I don't know who." —Goldsmith's Good-natured Man.
The nominative who in the above examples should be the objective whom.
The plural nominative ye of the pronoun thou is very often used for the objective you, as
in the following:
"His wrath which will one day destroy ye both." —Milton.
"The more shame for ye; holy men I thought ye."—Shakespeare.
"I feel the gales that from ye blow."—Gray.
"Tyrants dread ye, lest your just decree Transfer the power and set the people free."—
Prior.
Many of the great writers have played havoc with the adjective in the indiscriminate use
of the degrees of comparison.
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"Of two forms of the same word, use the fittest."—Morell.
The author here in trying to give good advice sets a bad example. He should have used
the comparative degree, "Fitter."
Adjectives which have a comparative or superlative signification do not admit the
addition of the words more, most, or the terminations, er, est, hence the following
examples break this rule:
"Money is the most universal incitement of human misery."—Gibbon's Decline and Fall.
"The chiefest of which was known by the name of Archon among the Grecians."—
Dryden's Life of Plutarch.
"The chiefest and largest are removed to certain magazines they call libraries."—Swift's
Battle of the Books.
The two chiefest properties of air, its gravity and elastic force, have been discovered by
mechanical experiments.—Arbuthno
"From these various causes, which in greater or lesser degree, affected every individual
in the colony, the indignation of the people became general."—Robertson's History of
America.
"The extremest parts of the earth were meditating a submission."—Atterbury's Sermons.
"The last are indeed more preferable because they are founded on some new knowledge
or improvement in the mind of man."—Addison, Spectator.
"This was in reality the easiest manner of the two."—Shaftesbury's Advice to an Author.
"In every well formed mind this second desire seems to be the strongest of the two."—
Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments.
In these examples the superlative is wrongly used for the comparative. When only two
objects are compared the comparative form must be used.
Of impossibility there are no degrees of comparison, yet we find the following:
"As it was impossible they should know the words, thoughts and secret actions of all
men, so it was more impossible they should pass judgment on them according to these
things."—Whitby's Necessity of the Christian Religion.
A great number of authors employ adjectives for adverbs. Thus we find:
"I shall endeavor to live hereafter suitable to a man in my station."—Addison.
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"I can never think so very mean of him."—Bentley's Dissertation on Phalaris.
"His expectations run high and the fund to supply them is extreme scanty,—Lancaster's
Essay on Delicacy.
The commonest error in the use of the verb is the disregard of the concord between the
verb and its subject. This occurs most frequently when the subject and the verb are
widely separated, especially if some other noun of a different number immediately
precedes the verb. False concords occur very often after either, or, neither, nor, and
much, more, many, everyone, each.
Here are a few authors' slips:—
"The terms in which the sale of a patent were communicated to the public."—Junius's
Letters.
"The richness of her arms and apparel were conspicuous."—Gibbon's Decline and Fall.
"Everyone of this grotesque family were the creatures of national genius."—D'Israeli.
"He knows not what spleen, languor or listlessness are."—Blair's Sermons.
"Each of these words imply, some pursuit or object relinquished."—Ibid.
"Magnus, with four thousand of his supposed accomplices were put to death."—Gibbon.
"No nation gives greater encouragements to learning than we do; yet at the same time
none are so injudicious in the application."—Goldsmith.
"There's two or three of us have seen strange sights."—Shakespeare.
The past participle should not be used for the past tense, yet the learned Byron
overlooked this fact. He thus writes in the Lament of Tasso:—
"And with my years my soul begun to pant With feelings of strange tumult and soft
pain."
Here is another example from Savage's Wanderer in which there is double sinning:
"From liberty each nobler science sprung, A Bacon brighten'd and a Spenser sung."
Other breaches in regard to the participles occur in the following:—
"Every book ought to be read with the same spirit and in the same manner as it is writ"—
Fielding's Tom Jones.
"The Court of Augustus had not wore off the manners of the republic "—Hume's Essays.
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"Moses tells us that the fountains of the earth were broke open or clove asunder."—
Burnet.
"A free constitution when it has been shook by the iniquity of former administrations."—
Bolingbroke.
"In this respect the seeds of future divisions were sowed abundantly."—Ibid.
In the following example the present participle is used for the infinitive mood:
"It is easy distinguishing the rude fragment of a rock from the splinter of a statue."—
Gilfillan's Literary Portraits.
Distinguishing here should be replaced by to distinguish.
The rules regarding shall and will are violated in the following:
"If we look within the rough and awkward outside, we will be richly rewarded by its
perusal."—Gilfillan's Literary Portraits.
"If I should declare them and speak of them, they should be more than I am able to
express."—Prayer Book Revision of Psalms XI.
"If I would declare them and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered."—Ibid.
"Without having attended to this, we will be at a loss, in understanding several passages
in the classics."—Blair's Lectures.
"We know to what cause our past reverses have been owing and we will have ourselves
to blame, if they are again incurred."—Alison's History of Europe.
Adverbial mistakes often occur in the best writers. The adverb rather is a word very
frequently misplaced. Archbishop Trench in his "English Past and Present" writes, "It
rather modified the structure of our sentences than the elements of our vocabulary." This
should have been written,—"It modified the structure of our sentences rather than the
elements of our vocabulary."
"So far as his mode of teaching goes he is rather a disciple of Socrates than of St. Paul or
Wesley." Thus writes Leslie Stephens of Dr. Johnson. He should have written,—" So far
as his mode of teaching goes he is a disciple of Socrates rather than of St. Paul or
Wesley."
The preposition is a part of speech which is often wrongly used by some of the best
writers. Certain nouns, adjectives and verbs require particular prepositions after them, for
instance, the word different always takes the preposition from after it; prevail takes upon;
averse takes to; accord takes with, and so on.
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In the following examples the prepositions in parentheses are the ones that should have
been used:
"He found the greatest difficulty of (in) writing."—Hume's History of England.
"If policy can prevail upon (over) force."—Addison.
"He made the discovery and communicated to (with) his friends."—Swift's Tale of a Tub.
"Every office of command should be intrusted to persons on (in) whom the parliament
shall confide."—Macaulay.
Several of the most celebrated writers infringe the canons of style by placing prepositions
at the end of sentences. For instance Carlyle, in referring to the Study of Burns, writes:—
"Our own contributions to it, we are aware, can be but scanty and feeble; but we offer
them with good will, and trust they may meet with acceptance from those they are
intended for."
—"for whom they are intended," he should have written.
"Most writers have some one vein which they peculiarly and obviously excel in."—
William Minto.
This sentence should read,—Most writers have some one vein in which they peculiarly
and obviously excel.
Many authors use redundant words which repeat the same thought and idea. This is called
tautology.
"Notwithstanding which (however) poor Polly embraced them all around."—Dickens.
"I judged that they would (mutually) find each other."—Crockett.
"....as having created a (joint) partnership between the two Powers in the Morocco
question."—The Times.
"The only sensible position (there seems to be) is to frankly acknowledge our ignorance
of what lies beyond."—Daily Telegraph.
"Lord Rosebery has not budged from his position—splendid, no doubt,—of (lonely)
isolation."—The Times.
"Miss Fox was (often) in the habit of assuring Mrs. Chick."—Dickens.
"The deck (it) was their field of fame."—Campbell.
"He had come up one morning, as was now (frequently) his wont,"—Trollope.
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The counsellors of the Sultan (continue to) remain sceptical—The Times.
Seriously, (and apart from jesting), this is no light matter.—Bagehot.
To go back to your own country with (the consciousness that you go back with) the sense
of duty well done.—Lord Halsbury.
The Peresviet lost both her fighting-tops and (in appearance) looked the most damaged of
all the ships—The Times.
Counsel admitted that, that was a fair suggestion to make, but he submitted that it was
borne out by the (surrounding) circumstances.—Ibid.
Another unnecessary use of words and phrases is that which is termed circumlocution, a
going around the bush when there is no occasion for it,—save to fill space.
It may be likened to a person walking the distance of two sides of a triangle to reach the
objective point. For instance in the quotation: "Pope professed to have learned his poetry
from Dryden, whom, whenever an opportunity was presented, he praised through the
whole period of his existence with unvaried liberality; and perhaps his character may
receive some illustration, of a comparison he instituted between him and the man whose
pupil he was" much of the verbiage may be eliminated and the sentence thus condensed:
"Pope professed himself the pupil of Dryden, whom he lost no opportunity of praising;
and his character may be illustrated by a comparison with his master."
"His life was brought to a close in 1910 at an age not far from the one fixed by the sacred
writer as the term of human existence."
This in brevity can be put, "His life was brought to a close at the age of seventy;" or,
better yet, "He died at the age of seventy."
"The day was intensely cold, so cold in fact that the thermometer crept down to the zero
mark," can be expressed: "The day was so cold the thermometer registered zero."
Many authors resort to circumlocution for the purpose of "padding," that is, filling space,
or when they strike a snag in writing upon subjects of which they know little or nothing.
The young writer should steer clear of it and learn to express his thoughts and ideas as
briefly as possible commensurate with lucidity of expression.
Volumes of errors in fact, in grammar, diction and general style, could be selected from
the works of the great writers, a fact which eloquently testifies that no one is infallible
and that the very best is liable to err at times. However, most of the erring in the case of
these writers arises from carelessness or hurry, not from a lack of knowledge.
As a general rule it is in writing that the scholar is liable to slip; in oral speech he seldom
makes a blunder. In fact, there are many people who are perfect masters of speech,—who
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never make a blunder in conversation, yet who are ignorant of the very principles of
grammar and would not know how to write a sentence correctly on paper. Such persons
have been accustomed from infancy to hear the language spoken correctly and so the use
of the proper words and forms becomes a second nature to them. A child can learn what
is right as easy as what is wrong and whatever impressions are made on the mind when it
is plastic will remain there. Even a parrot can be taught the proper use of language.
Repeat to a parrot.—"Two and two make four" and it never will say "two and two makes
four."
In writing, however, it is different. Without a knowledge of the fundamentals of grammar
we may be able to speak correctly from association with good speakers, but without such
a knowledge we cannot hope to write the language correctly. To write even a common
letter we must know the principles of construction, the relationship of one word to
another. Therefore, it is necessary for everybody to understand at least the essentials of
the grammar of his own language.
CHAPTER VIII
PITFALLS TO AVOID
Common Stumbling Blocks—Peculiar Constructions—Misused Forms.
ATTRACTION
Very often the verb is separated from its real nominative or subject by several intervening
words and in such cases one is liable to make the verb agree with the subject nearest to it.
Here are a few examples showing that the leading writers now and then take a tumble
into this pitfall:
1. "The partition which the two ministers made of the powers of government were
singularly happy."—Macaulay.
(Should be was to agree with its subject, partition.)
2. "One at least of the qualities which fit it for training ordinary men unfit it for
training an extraordinary man."—Bagehot.
(Should be unfits to agree with subject one.)
3. "The Tibetans have engaged to exclude from their country those dangerous
influences whose appearance were the chief cause of our action."—The Times.
(Should be was to agree with appearance.)
4. "An immense amount of confusion and indifference prevail in these days."—
Telegraph.
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(Should be prevails to agree with amount.)
ELLIPSIS
Errors in ellipsis occur chiefly with prepositions.
His objection and condoning of the boy's course, seemed to say the least, paradoxical.
(The preposition to should come after objection.)
Many men of brilliant parts are crushed by force of circumstances and their genius
forever lost to the world.
(Some maintain that the missing verb after genius is are, but such is ungrammatical. In
such cases the right verb should be always expressed: as—their genius is forever lost to
the world.
THE SPLIT INFINITIVE
Even the best speakers and writers are in the habit of placing a modifying word or words
between the to and the remaining part of the infinitive. It is possible that such will come
to be looked upon in time as the proper form but at present the splitting of the infinitive is
decidedly wrong. "He was scarcely able to even talk" "She commenced to rapidly walk
around the room." "To have really loved is better than not to have at all loved." In these
constructions it is much better not to split the infinitive. In every-day speech the best
speakers sin against this observance.
In New York City there is a certain magistrate, a member of "the 400," who prides
himself on his diction in language. He tells this story: A prisoner, a faded, battered
specimen of mankind, on whose haggard face, deeply lined with the marks of dissipation,
there still lingered faint reminders of better days long past, stood dejected before the
judge. "Where are you from?" asked the magistrate. "From Boston," answered the
accused. "Indeed," said the judge, "indeed, yours is a sad case, and yet you don't seem to
thoroughly realise how low you have sunk." The man stared as if struck. "Your honor
does me an injustice," he said bitterly. "The disgrace of arrest for drunkenness, the
mortification of being thrust into a noisome dungeon, the publicity and humiliation of
trial in a crowded and dingy courtroom I can bear, but to be sentenced by a Police
Magistrate who splits his infinitives—that is indeed the last blow."
ONE
The indefinite adjective pronoun one when put in place of a personal substantive is liable
to raise confusion. When a sentence or expression is begun with the impersonal one the
word must be used throughout in all references to the subject. Thus, "One must mind
one's own business if one wishes to succeed" may seem prolix and awkward, nevertheless
it is the proper form. You must not say—"One must mind his business if he wishes to
succeed," for the subject is impersonal and therefore cannot exclusively take the
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masculine pronoun. With any one it is different. You may say—"If any one sins he
should acknowledge it; let him not try to hide it by another sin."
ONLY
This is a word that is a pitfall to the most of us whether learned or unlearned. Probably it
is the most indiscriminately used word in the language. From the different positions it is
made to occupy in a sentence it can relatively change the meaning. For instance in the
sentence—"I only struck him that time," the meaning to be inferred is, that the only thing
I did to him was to strike him, not kick or otherwise abuse him. But if the only is shifted,
so as to make the sentence read-"I struck him only that time" the meaning conveyed is,
that only on that occasion and at no other time did I strike him. If another shift is made
to-"I struck only him that time," the meaning is again altered so that it signifies he was
the only person I struck.
In speaking we can by emphasis impress our meaning on our hearers, but in writing we
have nothing to depend upon but the position of the word in the sentence. The best rule in
regard to only is to place it immediately before the word or phrase it modifies or limits.
ALONE
is another word which creates ambiguity and alters meaning. If we substitute it for only in
the preceding example the meaning of the sentence will depend upon the arrangement.
Thus "I alone struck him at that time" signifies that I and no other struck him. When the
sentence reads "I struck him alone at that time" it must be interpreted that he was the only
person that received a blow. Again if it is made to read "I struck him at that time alone"
the sense conveyed is that that was the only occasion on which I struck him. The rule
which governs the correct use of only is also applicable to alone.
OTHER AND ANOTHER
These are words which often give to expressions a meaning far from that intended. Thus,
"I have nothing to do with that other rascal across the street," certainly means that I am a
rascal myself. "I sent the despatch to my friend, but another villain intercepted it," clearly
signifies that my friend is a villain.
A good plan is to omit these words when they can be readily done without, as in the
above examples, but when it is necessary to use them make your meaning clear. You can
do this by making each sentence or phrase in which they occur independent of contextual
aid.
AND WITH THE RELATIVE
Never use and with the relative in this manner: "That is the dog I meant and which I
know is of pure breed." This is an error quite common. The use of and is permissible
when there is a parallel relative in the preceding sentence or clause. Thus: "There is the
dog which I meant and.which I know is of pure breed" is quite correct.
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LOOSE PARTICIPLES
A participle or participial phrase is naturally referred to the nearest nominative. If only
one nominative is expressed it claims all the participles that are not by the construction of
the sentence otherwise fixed. "John, working in the field all day and getting thirsty, drank
from the running stream." Here the participles working and getting clearly refer to John.
But in the sentence,—"Swept along by the mob I could not save him," the participle as it
were is lying around loose and may be taken to refer to either the person speaking or to
the person spoken about. It may mean that I was swept along by the mob or the individual
whom I tried to save was swept along.
"Going into the store the roof fell" can be taken that it was the roof which was going into
the store when it fell. Of course the meaning intended is that some person or persons
were going into the store just as the roof fell.
In all sentence construction with participles there should be such clearness as to preclude
all possibility of ambiguity. The participle should be so placed that there can be no doubt
as to the noun to which it refers. Often it is advisable to supply such words as will make
the meaning obvious.
BROKEN CONSTRUCTION
Sometimes the beginning of a sentence presents quite a different grammatical
construction from its end. This arises from the fact probably, that the beginning is lost
sight of before the end is reached. This occurs frequently in long sentences. Thus:
"Honesty, integrity and square-dealing will bring anybody much better through life than
the absence of either." Here the construction is broken at than. The use of either, only
used in referring to one of two, shows that the fact is forgotten that three qualities and not
two are under consideration. Any one of the three meanings might be intended in the
sentence, viz., absence of any one quality, absence of any two of the qualities or absence
of the whole three qualities. Either denotes one or the other of two and should never be
applied to any one of more than two. When we fall into the error of constructing such
sentences as above, we should take them apart and reconstruct them in a different
grammatical form. Thus,—"Honesty, integrity and square-dealing will bring a man much
better through life than a lack of these qualities which are almost essential to success."
DOUBLE NEGATIVE
It must be remembered that two negatives in the English language destroy each other and
are equivalent to an affirmative. Thus "I don't know nothing about it" is intended to
convey, that I am ignorant of the matter under consideration, but it defeats its own
purpose, inasmuch as the use of nothing implies that I know something about it. The
sentence should read—"I don't know anything about it."
Often we hear such expressions as "He was not asked to give no opinion," expressing the
very opposite of what is intended. This sentence implies that he was asked to give his
opinion. The double negative, therefore, should be carefully avoided, for it is insidious
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and is liable to slip in and the writer remain unconscious of its presence until the eye of
the critic detects it.
FIRST PERSONAL PRONOUN
The use of the first personal pronoun should be avoided as much as possible in
composition. Don't introduce it by way of apology and never use such expressions as "In
my opinion," "As far as I can see," "It appears to me," "I believe," etc. In what you write,
the whole composition is expressive of your views, since you are the author, therefore,
there is no necessity for you to accentuate or emphasize yourself at certain portions of it.
Moreover, the big I's savor of egotism! Steer clear of them as far as you can. The only
place where the first person is permissible is in passages where you are stating a view that
is not generally held and which is likely to meet with opposition.
SEQUENCE OF TENSES
When two verbs depend on each other their tenses must have a definite relation to each
other. "I shall have much pleasure in accepting your kind invitation" is wrong, unless you
really mean that just now you decline though by-and-by you intend to accept; or unless
you mean that you do accept now, though you have no pleasure in doing so, but look
forward to be more pleased by-and-by. In fact the sequence of the compound tenses
puzzle experienced writers. The best plan is to go back in thought to the time in question
and use the tense you would then naturally use. Now in the sentence "I should have liked
to have gone to see the circus" the way to find out the proper sequence is to ask yourself
the question—what is it I "should have liked" to do? and the plain answer is "to go to see
the circus." I cannot answer—"To have gone to see the circus" for that would imply that
at a certain moment I would have liked to be in the position of having gone to the circus.
But I do not mean this; I mean that at the moment at which I am speaking I wish I had
gone to see the circus. The verbal phrase I should have liked carries me back to the time
when there was a chance of seeing the circus and once back at the time, the going to the
circus is a thing of the present. This whole explanation resolves itself into the simple
question,—what should I have liked at that time, and the answer is "to go to see the
circus," therefore this is the proper sequence, and the expression should be "I should have
liked to go to see the circus."
If we wish to speak of something relating to a time prior to that indicated in the past tense
we must use the perfect tense of the infinitive; as, "He appeared to have seen better days."
We should say "I expected to meet him," not "I expected to have met him." "We intended
to visit you," not "to have visited you." "I hoped they would arrive," not "I hoped they
would have arrived." "I thought I should catch the bird," not "I thought I should have
caught the bird." "I had intended to go to the meeting," not "I had intended to have gone
to the meeting."
BETWEEN—AMONG
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These prepositions are often carelessly interchanged. Between has reference to two
objects only, among to more than two. "The money was equally divided between them" is
right when there are only two, but if there are more than two it should be "the money was
equally divided among them."
LESS—FEWER
Less refers is quantity, fewer to number. "No man has less virtues" should be "No man
has fewer virtues." "The farmer had some oats and a fewer quantity of wheat" should be
"the farmer had some oats and a less quantity of wheat."
FURTHER—FARTHER
Further is commonly used to denote quantity, farther to denote distance. "I have walked
farther than you," "I need no further supply" are correct.
EACH OTHER—ONE ANOTHER
Each other refers to two, one another to more than two. "Jones and Smith quarreled; they
struck each other" is correct. "Jones, Smith and Brown quarreled; they struck one
another" is also correct. Don't say, "The two boys teach one another" nor "The three girls
love each other."
EACH, EVERY, EITHER, NEITHER
These words are continually misapplied. Each can be applied to two or any higher
number of objects to signify every one of the number independently. Every requires more
than two to be spoken of and denotes all the persons or things taken separately. Either
denotes one or the other of two, and should not be used to include both. Neither is the
negative of either, denoting not the other, and not the one, and relating to two persons or
things considered separately.
The following examples illustrate the correct usage of these words:
Each man of the crew received a reward.
Every man in the regiment displayed bravery.
We can walk on either side of the street.
Neither of the two is to blame.
NEITHER-NOR
When two singular subjects are connected by neither, nor use a singular verb; as, Neither
John nor James was there," not were there.
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NONE
Custom Has sanctioned the use of this word both with a singular and plural; as—"None is
so blind as he who will not see" and "None are so blind as they who will not see."
However, as it is a contraction of no one it is better to use the singular verb.
RISE-RAISE
These verbs are very often confounded. Rise is to move or pass upward in any manner; as
to "rise from bed;" to increase in value, to improve in position or rank, as "stocks rise;"
"politicians rise;" "they have risen to honor."
Raise is to lift up, to exalt, to enhance, as "I raise the table;" "He raised his servant;" "The
baker raised the price of bread."
LAY-LIE
The transitive verb lay, and lay, the past tense of the neuter verb lie, are often
confounded, though quite different in meaning. The neuter verb to lie, meaning to lie
down or rest, cannot take the objective after it except with a preposition. We can say "He
lies on the ground," but we cannot say "He lies the ground," since the verb is neuter and
intransitive and, as such, cannot have a direct object. With lay it is different. Lay is a
transitive verb, therefore it takes a direct object after it; as "I lay a wager," "I laid the
carpet," etc.
Of a carpet or any inanimate subject we should say, "It lies on the floor," "A knife lies on
the table," not lays. But of a person we say—"He lays the knife on the table," not "He
lies——." Lay being the past tense of the neuter to lie (down) we should say, "He lay on
the bed," and lain being its past participle we must also say "He has lain on the bed."
We can say "I lay myself down." "He laid himself down" and such expressions.
It is imperative to remember in using these verbs that to lay means to do something, and
to lie means to be in a state of rest.
SAYS I—I SAID
"Says I" is a vulgarism; don't use it. "I said" is correct form.
IN—INTO
Be careful to distinguish the meaning of these two little prepositions and don't
interchange them. Don't say "He went in the room" nor "My brother is into the navy." In
denotes the place where a person or thing, whether at rest or in motion, is present; and
into denotes entrance. "He went into the room;" "My brother is in the navy" are correct.
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EAT—ATE
Don't confound the two. Eat is present, ate is past. "I eat the bread" means that I am
continuing the eating; "I ate the bread" means that the act of eating is past. Eaten is the
perfect participle, but often eat is used instead, and as it has the same pronunciation (et)
of ate, care should be taken to distinguish the past tense, I ate from the perfect I have
eaten (eat).
SEQUENCE OF PERSON
Remember that the first person takes precedence of the second and the second takes
precedence of the third. When Cardinal Wolsey said Ego et Rex (I and the King), he
showed he was a good grammarian, but a bad courtier.
AM COME—HAVE COME
"I am come" points to my being here, while "I have come" intimates that I have just
arrived. When the subject is not a person, the verb to be should be used in preference to
the verb to have; as, "The box is come" instead of "The box has come."
PAST TENSE—PAST PARTICIPLE
The interchange of these two parts of the irregular or so-called strong verbs is, perhaps,
the breach oftenest committed by careless speakers and writers. To avoid mistakes it is
requisite to know the principal parts of these verbs, and this knowledge is very easy of
acquirement, as there are not more than a couple of hundred of such verbs, and of this
number but a small part is in daily use. Here are some of the most common blunders: "I
seen" for "I saw;" "I done it" for "I did it;" "I drunk" for "I drank;" "I begun" for "I
began;" "I rung" for "I rang;" "I run" for "I ran;" "I sung" for "I sang;" "I have chose" for
"I have chosen;" "I have drove" for "I have driven;" "I have wore" for "I have worn;" "I
have trod" for "I have trodden;" "I have shook" for "I have shaken;" "I have fell" for "I
have fallen;" "I have drank" for "I have drunk;" "I have began" for "I have begun;" "I
have rang" for "I have rung;" "I have rose" for "I have risen;" "I have spoke" for "I have
spoken;" "I have broke" for "I have broken." "It has froze" for "It has frozen." "It has
blowed" for "It has blown." "It has flowed" (of a bird) for "It has flown."
N. B.—The past tense and past participle of To Hang is hanged or hung. When you are
talking about a man meeting death on the gallows, say "He was hanged"; when you are
talking about the carcass of an animal say, "It was hung," as "The beef was hung dry."
Also say your coat "was hung on a hook."
PREPOSITIONS AND THE OBJECTIVE CASE
Don't forget that prepositions always take the objective case. Don't say "Between you and
I"; say "Between you and me"
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Two prepositions should not govern one objective unless there is an immediate
connection between them. "He was refused admission to and forcibly ejected from the
school" should be "He was refused admission to the school and forcibly ejected from it."
SUMMON—SUMMONS
Don't say "I shall summons him," but "I shall summon him." Summon is a verb,
summons, a noun.
It is correct to say "I shall get a summons for him," not a summon.
UNDENIABLE—UNEXCEPTIONABLE
"My brother has an undeniable character" is wrong if I wish to convey the idea that he
has a good character. The expression should be in that case "My brother has an
unexceptionable character." An undeniable character is a character that cannot be denied,
whether bad or good. An unexceptionable character is one to which no one can take
exception.
THE PRONOUNS
Very many mistakes occur in the use of the pronouns. "Let you and I go" should be "Let
you and me go." "Let them and we go" should be "Let them and us go." The verb let is
transitive and therefore takes the objective case.
"Give me them flowers" should be "Give me those flowers"; "I mean them three" should
be "I mean those three." Them is the objective case of the personal pronoun and cannot
be used adjectively like the demonstrative adjective pronoun. "I am as strong as him"
should be "I am as strong as he"; "I am younger than her" should be "I am younger than
she;" "He can write better than me" should be "He can write better than I," for in these
examples the objective cases him, her and me are used wrongfully for the nominatives.
After each of the misapplied pronouns a verb is understood of which each pronoun is the
subject. Thus, "I am as strong as he (is)." "I am younger than she (is)." "He can write
better than I (can)."
Don't say "It is me;" say "It is I" The verb To Be of which is is a part takes the same case
after it that it has before it. This holds good in all situations as well as with pronouns.
The verb To Be also requires the pronouns joined to it to be in the same case as a pronoun
asking a question; The nominative I requires the nominative who and the objectives me,
him, her, its, you, them, require the objective whom.
"Whom do you think I am?" should be "Who do you think I am?" and "Who do they
suppose me to be?" should be "Whom do they suppose me to be?" The objective form of
the Relative should be always used, in connection with a preposition. "Who do you take
me for?" should be "Whom do, etc." "Who did you give the apple to?" should be "Whom
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did you give the apple to," but as pointed out elsewhere the preposition should never end
a sentence, therefore, it is better to say, "To whom did you give the apple?"
After transitive verbs always use the objective cases of the pronouns. For "He and they
we have seen," say "Him and them we have seen."
THAT FOR SO
"The hurt it was that painful it made him cry," say "so painful."
THESE—THOSE
Don't say, These kind; those sort. Kind and sort are each singular and require the singular
pronouns this and that. In connection with these demonstrative adjective pronouns
remember that this and these refer to what is near at hand, that and those to what is more
distant; as, this book (near me), that book (over there), these boys (near), those boys (at a
distance).
THIS MUCH—THUS MUCH
"This much is certain" should be "Thus much or so much is certain."
FLEE—FLY
These are two separate verbs and must not be interchanged. The principal parts of flee are
flee, fled, fled; those of fly are fly, flew, flown. To flee is generally used in the meaning of
getting out of danger. To fly means to soar as a bird. To say of a man "He has flown from
the place" is wrong; it should be "He has fled from the place." We can say with propriety
that "A bird has flown from the place."
THROUGH—THROUGHOUT
Don't say "He is well known through the land," but "He is well known throughout the
land."
VOCATION AND AVOCATION
Don't mistake these two words so nearly alike. Vocation is the employment, business or
profession one follows for a living; avocation is some pursuit or occupation which diverts
the person from such employment, business or profession. Thus
"His vocation was the law, his avocation, farming."
WAS—WERE
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In the subjunctive mood the plural form were should be used with a singular subject; as,
"If I were," not was. Remember the plural form of the personal pronoun you always takes
were, though it may denote but one. Thus, "You were," never "you was." "If I was him" is
a very common expression. Note the two mistakes in it,—that of the verb implying a
condition, and that of the objective case of the pronoun. It should read If I were he. This
is another illustration of the rule regarding the verb To Be, taking the same case after it as
before it; were is part of the verb To Be, therefore as the nominative (I) goes before it, the
nominative (he) should come after it.
A OR AN
A becomes an before a vowel or before h mute for the sake of euphony or agreeable
sound to the ear. An apple, an orange, an heir, an honor, etc.
CHAPTER IX
STYLE
Diction—Purity—Propriety—Precision.
It is the object of every writer to put his thoughts into as effective form as possible so as
to make a good impression on the reader. A person may have noble thoughts and ideas
but be unable to express them in such a way as to appeal to others, consequently he
cannot exert the full force of his intellectuality nor leave the imprint of his character upon
his time, whereas many a man but indifferently gifted may wield such a facile pen as to
attract attention and win for himself an envious place among his contemporaries.
In everyday life one sees illustrations of men of excellent mentality being cast aside and
ones of mediocre or in some cases, little, if any, ability chosen to fill important places.
The former are unable to impress their personality; they have great thoughts, great ideas,
but these thoughts and ideas are locked up in their brains and are like prisoners behind the
bars struggling to get free. The key of language which would open the door is wanting,
hence they have to remain locked up.
Many a man has to pass through the world unheard of and of little benefit to it or himself,
simply because he cannot bring out what is in him and make it subservient to his will. It
is the duty of every one to develop his best, not only for the benefit of himself but for the
good of his fellow men. It is not at all necessary to have great learning or acquirements,
the laborer is as useful in his own place as the philosopher in his; nor is it necessary to
have many talents. One talent rightly used is much better than ten wrongly used. Often a
man can do more with one than his contemporary can do with ten, often a man can make
one dollar go farther than twenty in the hands of his neighbor, often the poor man lives
more comfortably than the millionaire. All depends upon the individual himself. If he
make right use of what the Creator has given him and live according to the laws of God
and nature he is fulfilling his allotted place in the universal scheme of creation, in other
words, when he does his best, he is living up to the standard of a useful manhood.
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Now in order to do his best a man of ordinary intelligence and education should be able
to express himself correctly both in speaking and writing, that is, he should be able to
convey his thoughts in an intelligent manner which the simplest can understand. The
manner in which a speaker or writer conveys his thoughts is known as his Style. In other
words Style may be defined as the peculiar manner in which a man expresses his
conceptions through the medium of language. It depends upon the choice of words and
their arrangement to convey a meaning. Scarcely any two writers have exactly the same
style, that is to say, express their ideas after the same peculiar form, just as no two
mortals are fashioned by nature in the same mould, so that one is an exact counterpart of
the other.
Just as men differ in the accent and tones of their voices, so do they differ in the
construction of their language.
Two reporters sent out on the same mission, say to report a fire, will verbally differ in
their accounts though materially both descriptions will be the same as far as the leading
facts are concerned. One will express himself in a style different from the other.
If you are asked to describe the dancing of a red-haired lady at the last charity ball you
can either say—"The ruby Circe, with the Titian locks glowing like the oriflamme which
surrounds the golden god of day as he sinks to rest amid the crimson glory of the
burnished West, gave a divine exhibition of the Terpsichorean art which thrilled the souls
of the multitude" or, you can simply say—"The red-haired lady danced very well and
pleased the audience."
The former is a specimen of the ultra florid or bombastic style which may be said to
depend upon the pomposity of verbosity for its effect, the latter is a specimen of simple
natural Style. Needless to say it is to be preferred. The other should be avoided. It stamps
the writer as a person of shallowness, ignorance and inexperience. It has been eliminated
from the newspapers. Even the most flatulent of yellow sheets no longer tolerate it in
their columns. Affectation and pedantry in style are now universally condemned.
It is the duty of every speaker and writer to labor after a pleasing style. It gains him an
entrance where he would otherwise be debarred. Often the interest of a subject depends
as much on the way it is presented as on the subject itself. One writer will make it
attractive, another repulsive. For instance take a passage in history. Treated by one
historian it is like a desiccated mummy, dry, dull, disgusting, while under the spell of
another it is, as it were, galvanized into a virile living thing which not only pleases but
captivates the reader.
DICTION
The first requisite of style is choice of words, and this comes under the head of Diction,
the property of style which has reference to the words and phrases used in speaking and
writing. The secret of literary skill from any standpoint consists in putting the right word
in the right place. In order to do this it is imperative to know the meaning of the words we
use, their exact literal meaning. Many synonymous words are seemingly interchangeable
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and appear as if the same meaning were applicable to three or four of them at the same
time, but when all such words are reduced to a final analysis it is clearly seen that there is
a marked difference in their meaning. For instance grief and sorrow seem to be identical,
but they are not. Grief is active, sorrow is more or less passive; grief is caused by
troubles and misfortunes which come to us from the outside, while sorrow is often the
consequence of our own acts. Grief is frequently loud and violent, sorrow is always quiet
and retiring. Grief shouts, Sorrow remains calm.
If you are not sure of the exact meaning of a word look it up immediately in the
dictionary. Sometimes some of our great scholars are puzzled over simple words in
regard to meaning, spelling or pronunciation. Whenever you meet a strange word note it
down until you discover its meaning and use. Read the best books you can get, books
written by men and women who are acknowledged masters of language, and study how
they use their words, where they place them in the sentences, and the meanings they
convey to the readers.
Mix in good society. Listen attentively to good talkers and try to imitate their manner of
expression. If a word is used you do not understand, don't be ashamed to ask its meaning.
True, a small vocabulary will carry you through, but it is an advantage to have a large
one. When you live alone a little pot serves just as well as a large one to cook your
victuals and it is handy and convenient, but when your friends or neighbors come to dine
with you, you will need a much larger pot and it is better to have it in store, so that you
will not be put to shame for your scantiness of furnishings.
Get as many words as you possibly can—if you don't need them now, pack them away in
the garrets of your brain so that you can call upon them if you require them.
Keep a note book, jot down the words you don't understand or clearly understand and
consult the dictionary when you get time.
PURITY
Purity of style consists in using words which are reputable, national and present, which
means that the words are in current use by the best authorities, that they are used
throughout the nation and not confined to one particular part, and that they are words in
constant use at the present time.
There are two guiding principles in the choice of words,—good use and good taste. Good
use tells us whether a word is right or wrong; good taste, whether it is adapted to our
purpose or not.
A word that is obsolete or too new to have gained a place in the language, or that is a
provincialism, should not be used.
Here are the Ten Commandments of English style:
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1. Do not use foreign words.
2. Do not use a long word when a short one will serve your purpose. Fire is much
better than conflagration.
3. Do not use technical words, or those understood only by specialists in their
respective lines, except when you are writing especially for such people.
4. Do not use slang.
5. Do not use provincialisms, as "I guess" for "I think"; "I reckon" for "I know," etc.
6. Do not in writing prose, use poetical or antiquated words: as "lore, e'er, morn, yea,
nay, verily, peradventure."
7. Do not use trite and hackneyed words and expressions; as, "on the job," "up and
in"; "down and out."
8. Do not use newspaper words which have not established a place in the language
as "to bugle"; "to suicide," etc.
9. Do not use ungrammatical words and forms; as, "I ain't;" "he don't."
10. Do not use ambiguous words or phrases; as—"He showed me all about the
house."
Trite words, similes and metaphors which have become hackneyed and worn out should
be allowed to rest in the oblivion of past usage. Such expressions and phrases as "Sweet
sixteen" "the Almighty dollar," "Uncle Sam," "On the fence," "The Glorious Fourth,"
"Young America," "The lords of creation," "The rising generation," "The weaker sex,"
"The weaker vessel," "Sweetness long drawn out" and "chief cook and bottle washer,"
should be put on the shelf as they are utterly worn out from too much usage.
Some of the old similes which have outlived their usefulness and should be pensioned
off, are "Sweet as sugar," "Bold as a lion," "Strong as an ox," "Quick as a flash," "Cold as
ice," "Stiff as a poker," "White as snow," "Busy as a bee," "Pale as a ghost," "Rich as
Croesus," "Cross as a bear" and a great many more far too numerous to mention.
Be as original as possible in the use of expression. Don't follow in the old rut but try and
strike out for yourself. This does not mean that you should try to set the style, or do
anything outlandish or out of the way, or be an innovator on the prevailing custom. In
order to be original there is no necessity for you to introduce something novel or establish
a precedent. The probability is you are not fit to do either, by education or talent. While
following the style of those who are acknowledged leaders you can be original in your
language. Try and clothe an idea different from what it has been clothed and better. If you
are speaking or writing of dancing don't talk or write about "tripping the light fantastic
toe." It is over two hundred years since Milton expressed it that way in "L'Allegro."
You're not a Milton and besides over a million have stolen it from Milton until it is now
no longer worth stealing.
Don't resurrect obsolete words such as whilom, yclept, wis, etc., and be careful in regard
to obsolescent words, that is, words that are at the present time gradually passing from
use such as quoth, trow, betwixt, amongst, froward, etc.
And beware of new words. Be original in the construction and arrangement of your
language, but don't try to originate words. Leave that to the Masters of language, and
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don't be the first to try such words, wait until the chemists of speech have tested them and
passed upon their merits.
Quintilian said—"Prefer the oldest of the new and the newest of the old." Pope put this in
rhyme and it still holds good:
In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold, Alike fantastic, if too new or old: Be not
the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.
PROPRIETY
Propriety of style consists in using words in their proper sense and as in the case of
purity, good usage is the principal test. Many words have acquired in actual use a
meaning very different from what they once possessed. "Prevent" formerly meant to go
before, and that meaning is implied in its Latin derivation. Now it means to put a stop to,
to hinder. To attain propriety of style it is necessary to avoid confounding words derived
from the same root; as respectfully and respectively; it is necessary to use words in their
accepted sense or the sense which everyday use sanctions.
SIMPLICITY
Simplicity of style has reference to the choice of simple words and their unaffected
presentation. Simple words should always be used in preference to compound, and
complicated ones when they express the same or almost the same meaning. The AngloSaxon element in our language comprises the simple words which express the relations of
everyday life, strong, terse, vigorous, the language of the fireside, street, market and
farm. It is this style which characterizes the Bible and many of the great English classics
such as the "Pilgrim's Progress," "Robinson Crusoe," and "Gulliver's Travels."
CLEARNESS
Clearness of style should be one of the leading considerations with the beginner in
composition. He must avoid all obscurity and ambiguous phrases. If he write a sentence
or phrase and see that a meaning might be inferred from it otherwise than intended, he
should re-write it in such a way that there can be no possible doubt. Words, phrases or
clauses that are closely related should be placed as near to each other as possible that
their mutual relation may clearly appear, and no word should be omitted that is necessary
to the complete expression of thought.
UNITY
Unity is that property of style which keeps all parts of a sentence in connection with the
principal thought and logically subordinate to it. A sentence may be constructed as to
suggest the idea of oneness to the mind, or it may be so loosely put together as to produce
a confused and indefinite impression. Ideas that have but little connection should be
expressed in separate sentences, and not crowded into one.
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Keep long parentheses out of the middle of your sentences and when you have apparently
brought your sentences to a close don't try to continue the thought or idea by adding
supplementary clauses.
STRENGTH
Strength is that property of style which gives animation, energy and vivacity to language
and sustains the interest of the reader. It is as necessary to language as good food is to the
body. Without it the words are weak and feeble and create little or no impression on the
mind. In order to have strength the language must be concise, that is, much expressed in
little compass, you must hit the nail fairly on the head and drive it in straight. Go
critically over what you write and strike out every word, phrase and clause the omission
of which impairs neither the clearness nor force of the sentence and so avoid redundancy,
tautology and circumlocution. Give the most important words the most prominent places,
which, as has been pointed out elsewhere, are the beginning and end of the sentence.
HARMONY
Harmony is that property of style which gives a smoothness to the sentence, so that when
the words are sounded their connection becomes pleasing to the ear. It adapts sound to
sense. Most people construct their sentences without giving thought to the way they will
sound and as a consequence we have many jarring and discordant combinations such as
"Thou strengthenedst thy position and actedst arbitrarily and derogatorily to my
interests."
Harsh, disagreeable verbs are liable to occur with the Quaker form Thou of the personal
pronoun. This form is now nearly obsolete, the plural you being almost universally used.
To obtain harmony in the sentence long words that are hard to pronounce and
combinations of letters of one kind should be avoided.
EXPRESSIVE OF WRITER
Style is expressive of the writer, as to who he is and what he is. As a matter of structure
in composition it is the indication of what a man can do; as a matter of quality it is an
indication of what he is.
KINDS OF STYLE
Style has been classified in different ways, but it admits of so many designations that it is
very hard to enumerate a table. In fact there are as many styles as there are writers, for no
two authors write exactly after the same form. However, we may classify the styles of the
various authors in broad divisions as (1) dry, (2) plain, (3) neat, (4) elegant, (5) florid, (6)
bombastic.
The dry style excludes all ornament and makes no effort to appeal to any sense of beauty.
Its object is simply to express the thoughts in a correct manner. This style is exemplified
by Berkeley.
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The plain style does not seek ornamentation either, but aims to make clear and concise
statements without any elaboration or embellishment. Locke and Whately illustrate the
plain style.
The neat style only aspires after ornament sparingly. Its object is to have correct figures,
pure diction and clear and harmonious sentences. Goldsmith and Gray are the
acknowledged leaders in this kind of style.
The elegant style uses every ornament that can beautify and avoids every excess which
would degrade. Macaulay and Addison have been enthroned as the kings of this style. To
them all writers bend the knee in homage.
The florid style goes to excess in superfluous and superficial ornamentation and strains
after a highly colored imagery. The poems of Ossian typify this style.
The bombastic is characterized by such an excess of words, figures and ornaments as to
be ridiculous and disgusting. It is like a circus clown dressed up in gold tinsel Dickens
gives a fine example of it in Sergeant Buzfuz' speech in the "Pickwick Papers." Among
other varieties of style may be mentioned the colloquial, the laconic, the concise, the
diffuse, the abrupt the flowing, the quaint, the epigrammatic, the flowery, the feeble, the
nervous, the vehement, and the affected. The manner of these is sufficiently indicated by
the adjective used to describe them.
In fact style is as various as character and expresses the individuality of the writer, or in
other words, as the French writer Buffon very aptly remarks, "the style is the man
himself."
CHAPTER X
SUGGESTIONS
How to Write—What to Write—Correct Speaking and Speakers
Rules of grammar and rhetoric are good in their own place; their laws must be observed
in order to express thoughts and ideas in the right way so that they shall convey a
determinate sense and meaning in a pleasing and acceptable manner. Hard and fast rules,
however, can never make a writer or author. That is the business of old Mother Nature
and nothing can take her place. If nature has not endowed a man with faculties to put his
ideas into proper composition he cannot do so. He may have no ideas worthy the
recording. If a person has not a thought to express, it cannot be expressed. Something
cannot be manufactured out of nothing. The author must have thoughts and ideas before
he can express them on paper. These come to him by nature and environment and are
developed and strengthened by study. There is an old Latin quotation in regard to the poet
which says "Poeta nascitur non fit" the translation of which is—the poet is born, not
made. To a great degree the same applies to the author. Some men are great scholars as
far as book learning is concerned, yet they cannot express themselves in passable
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composition. Their knowledge is like gold locked up in a chest where it is of no value to
themselves or the rest of the world.
The best way to learn to write is to sit down and write, just as the best way how to learn
to ride a bicycle is to mount the wheel and pedal away. Write first about common things,
subjects that are familiar to you. Try for instance an essay on a cat. Say something
original about her. Don't say "she is very playful when young but becomes grave as she
grows old." That has been said more than fifty thousand times before. Tell what you have
seen the family cat doing, how she caught a mouse in the garret and what she did after
catching it. Familiar themes are always the best for the beginner. Don't attempt to
describe a scene in Australia if you have never been there and know nothing of the
country. Never hunt for subjects, there are thousands around you. Describe what you saw
yesterday—a fire, a runaway horse, a dog-fight on the street and be original in your
description. Imitate the best writers in their style, but not in their exact words. Get out of
the beaten path, make a pathway of your own.
Know what you write about, write about what you know; this is a golden rule to which
you must adhere. To know you must study. The world is an open book in which all who
run may read. Nature is one great volume the pages of which are open to the peasant as
well as to the peer. Study Nature's moods and tenses, for they are vastly more important
than those of the grammar. Book learning is most desirable, but, after all, it is only theory
and not practice. The grandest allegory in the English, in fact, in any language, was
written by an ignorant, so-called ignorant, tinker named John Bunyan. Shakespeare was
not a scholar in the sense we regard the term to-day, yet no man ever lived or probably
ever will live that equalled or will equal him in the expression of thought. He simply read
the book of nature and interpreted it from the standpoint of his own magnificent genius.
Don't imagine that a college education is necessary to success as a writer. Far from it.
Some of our college men are dead-heads, drones, parasites on the body social, not alone
useless to the world but to themselves. A person may be so ornamental that he is
valueless from any other standpoint. As a general rule ornamental things serve but little
purpose. A man may know so much of everything that he knows little of anything. This
may sound paradoxical, but, nevertheless, experience proves its truth.
If you are poor that is not a detriment but an advantage. Poverty is an incentive to
endeavor, not a drawback. Better to be born with a good, working brain in your head than
with a gold spoon in your mouth. If the world had been depending on the so-called pets
of fortune it would have deteriorated long ago.
From the pits of poverty, from the arenas of suffering, from the hovels of neglect, from
the backwood cabins of obscurity, from the lanes and by-ways of oppression, from the
dingy garrets and basements of unending toil and drudgery have come men and women
who have made history, made the world brighter, better, higher, holier for their existence
in it, made of it a place good to live in and worthy to die in,—men and women who have
hallowed it by their footsteps and sanctified it with their presence and in many cases
consecrated it with their blood. Poverty is a blessing, not an evil, a benison from the
Father's hand if accepted in the right spirit. Instead of retarding, it has elevated literature
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in all ages. Homer was a blind beggarman singing his snatches of song for the dole of
charity; grand old Socrates, oracle of wisdom, many a day went without his dinner
because he had not the wherewithal to get it, while teaching the youth of Athens. The
divine Dante was nothing better than a beggar, houseless, homeless, friendless,
wandering through Italy while he composed his immortal cantos. Milton, who in his
blindness "looked where angels fear to tread," was steeped in poverty while writing his
sublime conception, "Paradise Lost." Shakespeare was glad to hold and water the horses
of patrons outside the White Horse Theatre for a few pennies in order to buy bread. Burns
burst forth in never-dying song while guiding the ploughshare. Poor Heinrich Heine,
neglected and in poverty, from his "mattress grave" of suffering in Paris added literary
laurels to the wreath of his German Fatherland. In America Elihu Burritt, while attending
the anvil, made himself a master of a score of languages and became the literary lion of
his age and country.
In other fields of endeavor poverty has been the spur to action. Napoleon was born in
obscurity, the son of a hand-to-mouth scrivener in the backward island of Corsica.
Abraham Lincoln, the boast and pride of America, the man who made this land too hot
for the feet of slaves, came from a log cabin in the Ohio backwoods. So did James A.
Garfield. Ulysses Grant came from a tanyard to become the world's greatest general.
Thomas A. Edison commenced as a newsboy on a railway train.
The examples of these men are incentives to action. Poverty thrust them forward instead
of keeping them back. Therefore, if you are poor make your circumstances a means to an
end. Have ambition, keep a goal in sight and bend every energy to reach that goal. A
story is told of Thomas Carlyle the day he attained the highest honor the literary world
could confer upon him when he was elected Lord Rector of Edinburgh University. After
his installation speech, in going through the halls, he met a student seemingly deep in
study. In his own peculiar, abrupt, crusty way the Sage of Chelsea interrogated the young
man: "For what profession are you studying?" "I don't know," returned the youth. "You
don't know," thundered Carlyle, "young man, you are a fool." Then he went on to qualify
his vehement remark, "My boy when I was your age, I was stooped in grinding, gripping
poverty in the little village of Ecclefechan, in the wilds of [Transcriber's note: First part
of word illegible]-frieshire, where in all the place only the minister and myself could read
the Bible, yet poor and obscure as I was, in my mind's eye I saw a chair awaiting for me
in the Temple of Fame and day and night and night and day I studied until I sat in that
chair to-day as Lord Rector of Edinburgh University."
Another Scotchman, Robert Buchanan, the famous novelist, set out for London from
Glasgow with but half-a-crown in his pocket. "Here goes," said he, "for a grave in
Westminster Abbey." He was not much of a scholar, but his ambition carried him on and
he became one of the great literary lions of the world's metropolis.
Henry M. Stanley was a poorhouse waif whose real name was John Rowlands. He was
brought up in a Welsh workhouse, but he had ambition, so he rose to be a great explorer,
a great writer, became a member of Parliament and was knighted by the British
Sovereign.
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Have ambition to succeed and you will succeed. Cut the word "failure" out of your
lexicon. Don't acknowledge it. Remember
"In life's earnest battle they only prevail
Who daily march onward and never say fail."
Let every obstacle you encounter be but a stepping stone in the path of onward progress
to the goal of success.
If untoward circumstances surround you, resolve to overcome them. Bunyan wrote the
"Pilgrim's Progress" in Bedford jail on scraps of wrapping paper while he was half
starved on a diet of bread and water. That unfortunate American genius, Edgar Allan Poe,
wrote "The Raven," the most wonderful conception as well as the most highly artistic
poem in all English literature, in a little cottage in the Fordham section of New York
while he was in the direst straits of want. Throughout all his short and wonderfully
brilliant career, poor Poe never had a dollar he could call his own. Such, however, was
both his fault and his misfortune and he is a bad exemplar.
Don't think that the knowledge of a library of books is essential to success as a writer.
Often a multiplicity of books is confusing. Master a few good books and master them
well and you will have all that is necessary. A great authority has said: "Beware of the
man of one book," which means that a man of one book is a master of the craft. It is
claimed that a thorough knowledge of the Bible alone will make any person a master of
literature. Certain it is that the Bible and Shakespeare constitute an epitome of the
essentials of knowledge. Shakespeare gathered the fruitage of all who went before him,
he has sown the seeds for all who shall ever come after him. He was the great intellectual
ocean whose waves touch the continents of all thought.
Books are cheap now-a-days, the greatest works, thanks to the printing press, are within
the reach of all, and the more you read, the better, provided they are worth reading.
Sometimes a man takes poison into his system unconscious of the fact that it is poison, as
in the case of certain foods, and it is very hard to throw off its effects. Therefore, be
careful in your choice of reading matter. If you cannot afford a full library, and as has
been said, such is not necessary, select a few of the great works of the master minds,
assimilate and digest them, so that they will be of advantage to your literary system.
Elsewhere in this volume is given a list of some of the world's masterpieces from which
you can make a selection.
Your brain is a storehouse, don't put useless furniture into it to crowd it to the exclusion
of what is useful. Lay up only the valuable and serviceable kind which you can call into
requisition at any moment.
As it is necessary to study the best authors in order to be a writer, so it is necessary to
study the best speakers in order to talk with correctness and in good style. To talk rightly
you must imitate the masters of oral speech. Listen to the best conversationalists and how
they express themselves. Go to hear the leading lectures, speeches and sermons. No need
to imitate the gestures of elocution, it is nature, not art, that makes the elocutionist and
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the orator. It is not how a speaker expresses himself but the language which he uses and
the manner of its use which should interest you. Have you heard the present day masters
of speech? There have been past time masters but their tongues are stilled in the dust of
the grave, and you can only read their eloquence now. You can, however, listen to the
charm of the living. To many of us voices still speak from the grave, voices to which we
have listened when fired with the divine essence of speech. Perhaps you have hung with
rapture on the words of Beecher and Talmage. Both thrilled the souls of men and won
countless thousands over to a living gospel. Both were masters of words, they scattered
the flowers of rhetoric on the shrine of eloquence and hurled veritable bouquets at their
audiences which were eagerly seized by the latter and treasured in the storehouse of
memory. Both were scholars and philosophers, yet they were far surpassed by Spurgeon,
a plain man of the people with little or no claim to education in the modern sense of the
word. Spurgeon by his speech attracted thousands to his Tabernacle. The Protestant and
Catholic, Turk, Jew and Mohammedan rushed to hear him and listened, entranced, to his
language. Such another was Dwight L. Moody, the greatest Evangelist the world has ever
known. Moody was not a man of learning; he commenced life as a shoe salesman in
Chicago, yet no man ever lived who drew such audiences and so fascinated them with the
spell of his speech. "Oh, that was personal magnetism," you will say, but it was nothing
of the kind. It was the burning words that fell from the lips of these men, and the way, the
manner, the force with which they used those words that counted and attracted the
crowds to listen unto them. Personal magnetism or personal appearance entered not as
factors into their success. Indeed as far as physique were concerned, some of them were
handicapped. Spurgeon was a short, podgy, fat little man, Moody was like a country
farmer, Talmage in his big cloak was one of the most slovenly of men and only Beecher
was passable in the way of refinement and gentlemanly bearing. Physical appearance, as
so many think, is not the sesame to the interest of an audience. Daniel O'Connell, the
Irish tribune, was a homely, ugly, awkward, ungainly man, yet his words attracted
millions to his side and gained for him the hostile ear of the British Parliament, he was a
master of verbiage and knew just what to say to captivate his audiences.
It is words and their placing that count on almost all occasions. No matter how refined in
other respects the person may be, if he use words wrongly and express himself in
language not in accordance with a proper construction, he will repel you, whereas the
man who places his words correctly and employs language in harmony with the laws of
good speech, let him be ever so humble, will attract and have an influence over you.
The good speaker, the correct speaker, is always able to command attention and doors are
thrown open to him which remain closed to others not equipped with a like facility of
expression. The man who can talk well and to the point need never fear to go idle. He is
required in nearly every walk of life and field of human endeavor, the world wants him at
every turn. Employers are constantly on the lookout for good talkers, those who are able
to attract the public and convince others by the force of their language. A man may be
able, educated, refined, of unblemished character, nevertheless if he lack the power to
express himself, put forth his views in good and appropriate speech he has to take a back
seat, while some one with much less ability gets the opportunity to come to the front
because he can clothe his ideas in ready words and talk effectively.
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You may again say that nature, not art, makes a man a fluent speaker; to a great degree
this is true, but it is art that makes him a correct speaker, and correctness leads to
fluency. It is possible for everyone to become a correct speaker if he will but persevere
and take a little pains and care.
At the risk of repetition good advice may be here emphasized: Listen to the best speakers
and note carefully the words which impress you most. Keep a notebook and jot down
words, phrases, sentences that are in any way striking or out of the ordinary run. If you do
not understand the exact meaning of a word you have heard, look it up in the dictionary.
There are many words, called synonyms, which have almost a like signification,
nevertheless, when examined they express different shades of meaning and in some
cases, instead of being close related, are widely divergent. Beware of such words, find
their exact meaning and learn to use them in their right places.
Be open to criticism, don't resent it but rather invite it and look upon those as friends who
point out your defects in order that you may remedy them.
CHAPTER XI
SLANG
Origin—American Slang—Foreign Slang
Slang is more or less common in nearly all ranks of society and in every walk of life at
the present day. Slang words and expressions have crept into our everyday language, and
so insiduously, that they have not been detected by the great majority of speakers, and so
have become part and parcel of their vocabulary on an equal footing with the legitimate
words of speech. They are called upon to do similar service as the ordinary words used in
everyday conversation—to express thoughts and desires and convey meaning from one to
another. In fact, in some cases, slang has become so useful that it has far outstripped
classic speech and made for itself such a position in the vernacular that it would be very
hard in some cases to get along without it. Slang words have usurped the place of regular
words of language in very many instances and reign supreme in their own strength and
influence.
Cant and slang are often confused in the popular mind, yet they are not synonymous,
though very closely allied, and proceeding from a common Gypsy origin. Cant is the
language of a certain class—the peculiar phraseology or dialect of a certain craft, trade or
profession, and is not readily understood save by the initiated of such craft, trade or
profession. It may be correct, according to the rules of grammar, but it is not universal; it
is confined to certain parts and localities and is only intelligible to those for whom it is
intended. In short, it is an esoteric language which only the initiated can understand. The
jargon, or patter, of thieves is cant and it is only understood by thieves who have been let
into its significance; the initiated language of professional gamblers is cant, and is only
intelligible to gamblers.
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On the other hand, slang, as it is nowadays, belongs to no particular class but is scattered
all over and gets entre into every kind of society and is understood by all where it passes
current in everyday expression. Of course, the nature of the slang, to a great extent,
depends upon the locality, as it chiefly is concerned with colloquialisms or words and
phrases common to a particular section. For instance, the slang of London is slightly
different from that of New York, and some words in the one city may be unintelligible in
the other, though well understood in that in which they are current. Nevertheless, slang
may be said to be universally understood. "To kick the bucket," "to cross the Jordan," "to
hop the twig" are just as expressive of the departing from life in the backwoods of
America or the wilds of Australia as they are in London or Dublin.
Slang simply consists of words and phrases which pass current but are not refined, nor
elegant enough, to be admitted into polite speech or literature whenever they are
recognized as such. But, as has been said, a great many use slang without their knowing it
as slang and incorporate it into their everyday speech and conversation.
Some authors purposely use slang to give emphasis and spice in familiar and humorous
writing, but they should not be imitated by the tyro. A master, such as Dickens, is
forgivable, but in the novice it is unpardonable.
There are several kinds of slang attached to different professions and classes of society.
For instance, there is college slang, political slang, sporting slang, etc. It is the nature of
slang to circulate freely among all classes, yet there are several kinds of this current form
of language corresponding to the several classes of society. The two great divisions of
slang are the vulgar of the uneducated and coarse-minded, and the high-toned slang of the
so-called upper classes—the educated and the wealthy. The hoyden of the gutter does not
use the same slang as my lady in her boudoir, but both use it, and so expressive is it that
the one might readily understand the other if brought in contact. Therefore, there are what
may be styled an ignorant slang and an educated slang—the one common to the purlieus
and the alleys, the other to the parlor and the drawing-room.
In all cases the object of slang is to express an idea in a more vigorous, piquant and terse
manner than standard usage ordinarily admits. A school girl, when she wants to praise a
baby, exclaims: "Oh, isn't he awfully cute!" To say that he is very nice would be too
weak a way to express her admiration. When a handsome girl appears on the street an
enthusiastic masculine admirer, to express his appreciation of her beauty, tells you: "She
is a peach, a bird, a cuckoo," any of which accentuates his estimation of the young lady
and is much more emphatic than saying: "She is a beautiful girl," "a handsome maiden,"
or "lovely young woman."
When a politician defeats his rival he will tell you "it was a cinch," he had a "walk-over,"
to impress you how easy it was to gain the victory.
Some slang expressions are of the nature of metaphors and are highly figurative. Such are
"to pass in your checks," "to hold up," "to pull the wool over your eyes," "to talk through
your hat," "to fire out," "to go back on," "to make yourself solid with," "to have a jag on,"
"to be loaded," "to freeze on to," "to bark up the wrong tree," "don't monkey with the
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buzz-saw," and "in the soup." Most slang had a bad origin. The greater part originated in
the cant of thieves' Latin, but it broke away from this cant of malefactors in time and
gradually evolved itself from its unsavory past until it developed into a current form of
expressive speech. Some slang, however, can trace its origin back to very respectable
sources.
"Stolen fruits are sweet" may be traced to the Bible in sentiment. Proverbs, ix:17 has it:
"Stolen waters are sweet." "What are you giving me," supposed to be a thorough
Americanism, is based upon Genesis, xxxviii:16. The common slang, "a bad man," in
referring to Western desperadoes, in almost the identical sense now used, is found in
Spenser's Faerie Queen, Massinger's play "A New Way to Pay Old Debts," and in
Shakespeare's "King Henry VIII." The expression "to blow on," meaning to inform, is in
Shakespeare's "As You Like it." "It's all Greek to me" is traceable to the play of "Julius
Caesar." "All cry and no wool" is in Butler's "Hudibras." "Pious frauds," meaning
hypocrites, is from the same source. "Too thin," referring to an excuse, is from Smollett's
"Peregrine Pickle." Shakespeare also used it.
America has had a large share in contributing to modern slang. "The heathen Chinee,"
and "Ways that are dark, and tricks that are vain," are from Bret Harte's Truthful James.
"Not for Joe," arose during the Civil War when one soldier refused to give a drink to
another. "Not if I know myself" had its origin in Chicago. "What's the matter with——?
He's all right," had its beginning in Chicago also and first was "What's the matter with
Hannah." referring to a lazy domestic servant. "There's millions in it," and "By a large
majority" come from Mark Twain's Gilded Age. "Pull down your vest," "jim-jams," "got
'em bad," "that's what's the matter," "go hire a hall," "take in your sign," "dry up," "hump
yourself," "it's the man around the corner," "putting up a job," "put a head on him," "no
back talk," "bottom dollar," "went off on his ear," "chalk it down," "staving him off,"
"making it warm," "dropping him gently," "dead gone," "busted," "counter jumper," "put
up or shut up," "bang up," "smart Aleck," "too much jaw," "chin-music," "top heavy,"
"barefooted on the top of the head," "a little too fresh," "champion liar," "chief cook and
bottle washer," "bag and baggage," "as fine as silk," "name your poison," "died with his
boots on," "old hoss," "hunkey dorey," "hold your horses," "galoot" and many others in
use at present are all Americanisms in slang.
California especially has been most fecund in this class of figurative language. To this
State we owe "go off and die," "don't you forget it," "rough deal," "square deal," "flush
times," "pool your issues," "go bury yourself," "go drown yourself," "give your tongue a
vacation," "a bad egg," "go climb a tree," "plug hats," "Dolly Vardens," "well fixed,"
"down to bed rock," "hard pan," "pay dirt," "petered out," "it won't wash," "slug of
whiskey," "it pans out well," and "I should smile." "Small potatoes, and few in the hill,"
"soft snap," "all fired," "gol durn it," "an up-hill job," "slick," "short cut," "guess not,"
"correct thing" are Bostonisms. The terms "innocent," "acknowledge the corn," "bark up
the wrong tree," "great snakes," "I reckon," "playing 'possum," "dead shot," had their
origin in the Southern States. "Doggone it," "that beats the Dutch," "you bet," "you bet
your boots," sprang from New York. "Step down and out" originated in the Beecher trial,
just as "brain-storm" originated in the Thaw trial.
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Among the slang phrases that have come directly to us from England may be mentioned
"throw up the sponge," "draw it mild," "give us a rest," "dead beat," "on the shelf," "up
the spout," "stunning," "gift of the gab," etc.
The newspapers are responsible for a large part of the slang. Reporters, staff writers, and
even editors, put words and phrases into the mouths of individuals which they never utter.
New York is supposed to be the headquarters of slang, particularly that portion of it
known as the Bowery. All transgressions and corruptions of language are supposed to
originate in that unclassic section, while the truth is that the laws of polite English are as
much violated on Fifth Avenue. Of course, the foreign element mincing their "pidgin"
English have given the Bowery an unenviable reputation, but there are just as good
speakers of the vernacular on the Bowery as elsewhere in the greater city. Yet every
inexperienced newspaper reporter thinks that it is incumbent on him to hold the Bowery
up to ridicule and laughter, so he sits down, and out of his circumscribed brain, mutilates
the English tongue (he can rarely coin a word), and blames the mutilation on the Bowery.
'Tis the same with newspapers and authors, too, detracting the Irish race. Men and
women who have never seen the green hills of Ireland, paint Irish characters as boors and
blunderers and make them say ludicrous things and use such language as is never heard
within the four walls of Ireland. 'Tis very well known that Ireland is the most learned
country on the face of the earth—is, and has been. The schoolmaster has been abroad
there for hundreds, almost thousands, of years, and nowhere else in the world to-day is
the king's English spoken so purely as in the cities and towns of the little Western Isle.
Current events, happenings of everyday life, often give rise to slang words, and these,
after a time, come into such general use that they take their places in everyday speech
like ordinary words and, as has been said, their users forget that they once were slang.
For instance, the days of the Land League in Ireland originated the word boycott, which
was the name of a very unpopular landlord, Captain Boycott. The people refused to work
for him, and his crops rotted on the ground. From this time any one who came into
disfavor and whom his neighbors refused to assist in any way was said to be boycotted.
Therefore to boycott means to punish by abandoning or depriving a person of the
assistance of others. At first it was a notoriously slang word, but now it is standard in the
English dictionaries.
Politics add to our slang words and phrases. From this source we get "dark horse," "the
gray mare is the better horse," "barrel of money," "buncombe," "gerrymander,"
"scalawag," "henchman," "logrolling," "pulling the wires," "taking the stump,"
"machine," "slate," etc.
The money market furnishes us with "corner," "bull," "bear," "lamb," "slump," and
several others.
The custom of the times and the requirements of current expression require the best of us
to use slang words and phrases on occasions. Often we do not know they are slang, just
as a child often uses profane words without consciousness of their being so. We should
avoid the use of slang as much as possible, even when it serves to convey our ideas in a
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forceful manner. And when it has not gained a firm foothold in current speech it should
be used not at all. Remember that most all slang is of vulgar origin and bears upon its
face the bend sinister of vulgarity. Of the slang that is of good birth, pass it by if you can,
for it is like a broken-down gentleman, of little good to any one. Imitate the great masters
as much as you will in classical literature, but when it comes to their slang, draw the line.
Dean Swift, the great Irish satirist, coined the word "phiz" for face. Don't imitate him. If
you are speaking or writing of the beauty of a lady's face don't call it her "phiz." The
Dean, as an intellectual giant, had a license to do so—you haven't. Shakespeare used the
word "flush" to indicate plenty of money. Well, just remember there was only one
Shakespeare, and he was the only one that had a right to use that word in that sense.
You'll never be a Shakespeare, there will never be such another—Nature exhausted
herself in producing him. Bulwer used the word "stretch" for hang, as to stretch his neck.
Don't follow his example in such use of the word. Above all, avoid the low, coarse,
vulgar slang, which is made to pass for wit among the riff-raff of the street. If you are
speaking or writing of a person having died last night don't say or write: "He hopped the
twig," or "he kicked the bucket." If you are compelled to listen to a person discoursing on
a subject of which he knows little or nothing, don't say "He is talking through his hat." If
you are telling of having shaken hands with Mr. Roosevelt don't say "He tipped me his
flipper." If you are speaking of a wealthy man don't say "He has plenty of spondulix," or
"the long green." All such slang is low, coarse and vulgar and is to be frowned upon on
any and every occasion.
If you use slang use the refined kind and use it like a gentleman, that it will not hurt or
give offense to any one. Cardinal Newman defined a gentleman as he who never inflicts
pain. Be a gentleman in your slang—never inflict pain.
CHAPTER XII
WRITING FOR NEWSPAPERS
Qualification—Appropriate Subjects—Directions
The newspaper nowadays goes into every home in the land; what was formerly regarded
as a luxury is now looked upon as a necessity. No matter how poor the individual, he is
not too poor to afford a penny to learn, not alone what is taking place around him in his
own immediate vicinity, but also what is happening in every quarter of the globe. The
laborer on the street can be as well posted on the news of the day as the banker in his
office. Through the newspaper he can feel the pulse of the country and find whether its
vitality is increasing or diminishing; he can read the signs of the times and scan the
political horizon for what concerns his own interests. The doings of foreign countries are
spread before him and he can see at a glance the occurrences in the remotest corners of
earth. If a fire occurred in London last night he can read about it at his breakfast table in
New York this morning, and probably get a better account than the Londoners
themselves. If a duel takes place in Paris he can read all about it even before the
contestants have left the field.
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There are upwards of 3,000 daily newspapers in the United States, more than 2,000 of
which are published in towns containing less than 100,000 inhabitants. In fact, many
places of less than 10,000 population can boast the publishing of a daily newspaper.
There are more than 15,000 weeklies published. Some of the so-called country papers
wield quite an influence in their localities, and even outside, and are money-making
agencies for their owners and those connected with them, both by way of circulation and
advertisements.
It is surprising the number of people in this country who make a living in the newspaper
field. Apart from the regular toilers there are thousands of men and women who make
newspaper work a side issue, who add tidy sums of "pin money" to their incomes by
occasional contributions to the daily, weekly and monthly press. Most of these people are
only persons of ordinary, everyday ability, having just enough education to express
themselves intelligently in writing.
It is a mistake to imagine, as so many do, that an extended education is necessary for
newspaper work. Not at all! On the contrary, in some cases, a high-class education is a
hindrance, not a help in this direction. The general newspaper does not want learned
disquisitions nor philosophical theses; as its name implies, it wants news, current news,
interesting news, something to appeal to its readers, to arouse them and rivet their
attention. In this respect very often a boy can write a better article than a college
professor. The professor would be apt to use words beyond the capacity of most of the
readers, while the boy, not knowing such words, would probably simply tell what he saw,
how great the damage was, who were killed or injured, etc., and use language which all
would understand.
Of course, there are some brilliant scholars, deeply-read men and women in the
newspaper realm, but, on the whole, those who have made the greatest names
commenced ignorant enough and most of them graduated by way of the country paper.
Some of the leading writers of England and America at the present time started their
literary careers by contributing to the rural press. They perfected and polished themselves
as they went along until they were able to make names for themselves in universal
literature.
If you want to contribute to newspapers or enter the newspaper field as a means of
livelihood, don't let lack of a college or university education stand in your way. As has
been said elsewhere in this book, some of the greatest masters of English literature were
men who had but little advantage in the way of book learning. Shakespeare, Bunyan,
Burns, and scores of others, who have left their names indelibly inscribed on the tablets
of fame, had little to boast of in the way of book education, but they had what is
popularly known as "horse" sense and a good working knowledge of the world; in other
words, they understood human nature, and were natural themselves. Shakespeare
understood mankind because he was himself a man; hence he has portrayed the feelings,
the emotions, the passions with a master's touch, delineating the king in his palace as true
to nature as he has done the peasant in his hut. The monitor within his own breast gave
him warning as to what was right and what was wrong, just as the daemon ever by the
side of old Socrates whispered in his ear the course to pursue under any and all
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circumstances. Burns guiding the plough conceived thoughts and clothed them in a
language which has never, nor probably never will be, surpassed by all the learning
which art can confer. These men were natural, and it was the perfection of this naturality
that wreathed their brows with the never-fading laurels of undying fame.
If you would essay to write for the newspaper you must be natural and express yourself in
your accustomed way without putting on airs or frills; you must not ape ornaments and
indulge in bombast or rhodomontade which stamp a writer as not only superficial but
silly. There is no room for such in the everyday newspaper. It wants facts stated in plain,
unvarnished, unadorned language. True, you should read the best authors and, as far as
possible, imitate their style, but don't try to literally copy them. Be yourself on every
occasion—no one else.
Not like Homer would I write,
Not like Dante if I might,
Not like Shakespeare at his best,
Not like Goethe or the rest,
Like myself, however small,
Like myself, or not at all.
Put yourself in place of the reader and write what will interest yourself and in such a way
that your language will appeal to your own ideas of the fitness of things. You belong to
the great commonplace majority, therefore don't forget that in writing for the newspapers
you are writing for that majority and not for the learned and aesthetic minority.
Remember you are writing for the man on the street and in the street car, you want to
interest him, to compel him to read what you have to say. He does not want a display of
learning; he wants news about something which concerns himself, and you must tell it to
him in a plain, simple manner just as you would do if you were face to face with him.
What can you write about? Why about anything that will constitute current news, some
leading event of the day, anything that will appeal to the readers of the paper to which
you wish to submit it. No matter in what locality you may live, however backward it may
be, you can always find something of genuine human interest to others. If there is no
news happening, write of something that appeals to yourself. We are all constituted alike,
and the chances are that what will interest you will interest others. Descriptions of
adventure are generally acceptable. Tell of a fox hunt, or a badger hunt, or a bear chase.
If there is any important manufacturing plant in your neighborhood describe it and, if
possible, get photographs, for photography plays a very important part in the news items
of to-day. If a "great" man lives near you, one whose name is on the tip of every tongue,
go and get an interview with him, obtain his views on the public questions of the day,
describe his home life and his surroundings and how he spends his time.
Try and strike something germane to the moment, something that stands out prominently
in the limelight of the passing show. If a noted personage, some famous man or woman,
is visiting the country, it is a good time to write up the place from which he or she comes
and the record he or she has made there. For instance, it was opportune to write of Sulu
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and the little Pacific archipelago during the Sultan's trip through the country. If an
attempt is made to blow up an American battleship, say, in the harbor of Appia, in
Samoa, it affords a chance to write about Samoa and Robert Louis Stephenson. When
Manuel was hurled from the throne of Portugal it was a ripe time to write of Portugal and
Portuguese affairs. If any great occurrence is taking place in a foreign country such as the
crowning of a king or the dethronement of a monarch, it is a good time to write up the
history of the country and describe the events leading up to the main issue. When a
particularly savage outbreak occurs amongst wild tribes in the dependencies, such as a
rising of the Manobos in the Philippines, it is opportune to write of such tribes and their
surroundings, and the causes leading up to the revolt.
Be constantly on the lookout for something that will suit the passing hour, read the daily
papers and probably in some obscure corner you may find something that will serve you
as a foundation for a good article—something, at least, that will give you a clue.
Be circumspect in your selection of a paper to which to submit your copy. Know the tone
and general import of the paper, its social leanings and political affiliations, also its
religious sentiments, and, in fact, all the particulars you can regarding it. It would be
injudicious for you to send an article on a prize fight to a religious paper or, vice versa, an
account of a church meeting to the editor of a sporting sheet.
If you get your copy back don't be disappointed nor yet disheartened. Perseverance
counts more in the newspaper field than anywhere else, and only perseverance wins in
the long run. You must become resilient; if you are pressed down, spring up again. No
matter how many rebuffs you may receive, be not discouraged but call fresh energy to
your assistance and make another stand. If the right stuff is in you it is sure to be
discovered; your light will not remain long hidden under a bushel in the newspaper
domain. If you can deliver the goods editors will soon be begging you instead of your
begging them. Those men are constantly on the lookout for persons who can make good.
Once you get into print the battle is won, for it will be an incentive to you to persevere
and improve yourself at every turn. Go over everything you write, cut and slash and
prune until you get it into as perfect form as possible. Eliminate every superfluous word
and be careful to strike out all ambiguous expressions and references.
If you are writing for a weekly paper remember it differs from a daily one. Weeklies want
what will not alone interest the man on the street, but the woman at the fireside; they
want out-of-the-way facts, curious scraps of lore, personal notes of famous or eccentric
people, reminiscences of exciting experiences, interesting gleanings in life's numberless
by-ways, in short, anything that will entertain, amuse, instruct the home circle. There is
always something occurring in your immediate surroundings, some curious event or
thrilling episode that will furnish you with data for an article. You must know the nature
of the weekly to which you submit your copy the same as you must know the daily. For
instance, the Christian Herald, while avowedly a religious weekly, treats such secular
matter as makes the paper appeal to all. On its religious side it is non-sectarian, covering
the broad field of Christianity throughout the world; on its secular side it deals with
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human events in such an impartial way that every one, no matter to what class they may
belong or to what creed they may subscribe, can take a living, personal interest.
The monthlies offer another attractive field for the literary aspirant. Here, again, don't
think you must be an university professor to write for a monthly magazine. Many, indeed
most, of the foremost magazine contributors are men and women who have never passed
through a college except by going in at the front door and emerging from the back one.
However, for the most part, they are individuals of wide experience who know the
practical side of life as distinguished from the theoretical.
The ordinary monthly magazine treats of the leading questions and issues which are
engaging the attention of the world for the moment, great inventions, great discoveries,
whatever is engrossing the popular mind for the time being, such as flying machines,
battleships, sky-scrapers, the opening of mines, the development of new lands, the
political issues, views of party leaders, character sketches of distinguished personages,
etc. However, before trying your skill for a monthly magazine it would be well for you to
have a good apprenticeship in writing for the daily press.
Above all things, remember that perseverance is the key that opens the door of success.
Persevere! If you are turned down don't get disheartened; on the contrary, let the rebuff
act as a stimulant to further effort. Many of the most successful writers of our time have
been turned down again and again. For days and months, and even years, some of them
have hawked their wares from one literary door to another until they found a purchaser.
You may be a great writer in embryo, but you will never develop into a fetus, not to
speak of full maturity, unless you bring out what is in you. Give yourself a chance to
grow and seize upon everything that will enlarge the scope of your horizon. Keep your
eyes wide open and there is not a moment of the day in which you will not see something
to interest you and in which you may be able to interest others. Learn, too, how to read
Nature's book. There's a lesson in everything—in the stones, the grass, the trees, the
babbling brooks and the singing birds. Interpret the lesson for yourself, then teach it to
others. Always be in earnest in your writing; go about it in a determined kind of way,
don't be faint-hearted or backward, be brave, be brave, and evermore be brave.
On the wide, tented field in the battle of life,
With an army of millions before you;
Like a hero of old gird your soul for the strife
And let not the foeman tramp o'er you;
Act, act like a soldier and proudly rush on
The most valiant in Bravery's van,
With keen, flashing sword cut your way to the front
And show to the world you're a Man.
If you are of the masculine gender be a man in all things in the highest and best
acceptation of the word. That is the noblest title you can boast, higher far than that of earl
or duke, emperor or king. In the same way womanhood is the grandest crown the
feminine head can wear. When the world frowns on you and everything seems to go
wrong, possess your soul in patience and hope for the dawn of a brighter day. It will
come. The sun is always shining behind the darkest clouds. When you get your
manuscripts back again and again, don't despair, nor think the editor cruel and unkind.
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He, too, has troubles of his own. Keep up your spirits until you have made the final test
and put your talents to a last analysis, then if you find you cannot get into print be sure
that newspaper writing or literary work is not your forte, and turn to something else. If
nothing better presents itself, try shoemaking or digging ditches. Remember honest labor,
no matter how humble, is ever dignified. If you are a woman throw aside the pen, sit
down and darn your brother's, your father's, or your husband's socks, or put on a calico
apron, take soap and water and scrub the floor. No matter who you are do something
useful. That old sophistry about the world owing you a living has been exploded long
ago. The world does not owe you a living, but you owe it servitude, and if you do not pay
the debt you are not serving the purpose of an all-wise Providence and filling the place
for which you were created. It is for you to serve the world, to make it better, brighter,
higher, holier, grander, nobler, richer, for your having lived in it. This you can do in no
matter what position fortune has cast you, whether it be that of street laborer or president.
Fight the good fight and gain the victory.
"Above all, to thine own self be true,
And 'twill follow as the night the
day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."
CHAPTER XIII
CHOICE OF WORDS
Small Words—Their Importance—The Anglo-Saxon Element
In another place in this book advice has been given to never use a long word when a short
one will serve the same purpose. This advice is to be emphasized. Words of "learned
length and thundering sound" should be avoided on all possible occasions. They proclaim
shallowness of intellect and vanity of mind. The great purists, the masters of diction, the
exemplars of style, used short, simple words that all could understand; words about
which there could be no ambiguity as to meaning. It must be remembered that by our
words we teach others; therefore, a very great responsibility rests upon us in regard to the
use of a right language. We must take care that we think and speak in a way so clear that
there may be no misapprehension or danger of conveying wrong impressions by vague
and misty ideas enunciated in terms which are liable to be misunderstood by those whom
we address. Words give a body or form to our ideas, without which they are apt to be so
foggy that we do not see where they are weak or false. We must make the endeavor to
employ such words as will put the idea we have in our own mind into the mind of
another. This is the greatest art in the world—to clothe our ideas in words clear and
comprehensive to the intelligence of others. It is the art which the teacher, the minister,
the lawyer, the orator, the business man, must master if they would command success in
their various fields of endeavor. It is very hard to convey an idea to, and impress it on,
another when he has but a faint conception of the language in which the idea is
expressed; but it is impossible to convey it at all when the words in which it is clothed are
unintelligible to the listener.
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If we address an audience of ordinary men and women in the English language, but use
such words as they cannot comprehend, we might as well speak to them in Coptic or
Chinese, for they will derive no benefit from our address, inasmuch as the ideas we wish
to convey are expressed in words which communicate no intelligent meaning to their
minds.
Long words, learned words, words directly derived from other languages are only
understood by those who have had the advantages of an extended education. All have not
had such advantages. The great majority in this grand and glorious country of ours have
to hustle for a living from an early age. Though education is free, and compulsory also,
very many never get further than the "Three R's." These are the men with whom we have
to deal most in the arena of life, the men with the horny palms and the iron muscles, the
men who build our houses, construct our railroads, drive our street cars and trains, till our
fields, harvest our crops—in a word, the men who form the foundation of all society, the
men on whom the world depends to make its wheels go round. The language of the
colleges and universities is not for them and they can get along very well without it; they
have no need for it at all in their respective callings. The plain, simple words of everyday
life, to which the common people have been used around their own firesides from
childhood, are the words we must use in our dealings with them.
Such words are understood by them and understood by the learned as well; why then not
use them universally and all the time? Why make a one-sided affair of language by using
words which only one class of the people, the so-called learned class, can understand?
Would it not be better to use, on all occasions, language which the both classes can
understand? If we take the trouble to investigate we shall find that the men who exerted
the greatest sway over the masses and the multitude as orators, lawyers, preachers and in
other public capacities, were men who used very simple language. Daniel Webster was
among the greatest orators this country has produced. He touched the hearts of senates
and assemblages, of men and women with the burning eloquence of his words. He never
used a long word when he could convey the same, or nearly the same, meaning with a
short one. When he made a speech he always told those who put it in form for the press to
strike out every long word. Study his speeches, go over all he ever said or wrote, and you
will find that his language was always made up of short, clear, strong terms, although at
times, for the sake of sound and oratorical effect, he was compelled to use a rather long
word, but it was always against his inclination to do so, and where was the man who
could paint, with words, as Webster painted! He could picture things in a way so clear
that those who heard him felt that they had seen that of which he spoke.
Abraham Lincoln was another who stirred the souls of men, yet he was not an orator, not
a scholar; he did not write M.A. or Ph.D. after his name, or any other college degree, for
he had none. He graduated from the University of Hard Knocks, and he never forgot this
severe Alma Mater when he became President of the United States. He was just as plain, I
just as humble, as in the days when he split rails or plied a boat on the Sangamon. He did
not use big words, but he used the words of the people, and in such a way as to make
them beautiful. His Gettysburg address is an English classic, one of the great
masterpieces of the language.
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From the mere fact that a word is short it does not follow that it is always clear, but it is
true that nearly all clear words are short, and that most of the long words, especially those
which we get from other languages, are misunderstood to a great extent by the ordinary
rank and file of the people. Indeed, it is to be doubted if some of the "scholars" using
them, fully understand their import on occasions. A great many such words admit of
several interpretations. A word has to be in use a great deal before people get thoroughly
familiar with its meaning. Long words, not alone obscure thought and make the ideas
hazy, but at times they tend to mix up things in such a way that positively harmful results
follow from their use.
For instance, crime can be so covered with the folds of long words as to give it a different
appearance. Even the hideousness of sin can be cloaked with such words until its outlines
look like a thing of beauty. When a bank cashier makes off with a hundred thousand
dollars we politely term his crime defalcation instead of plain theft, and instead of calling
himself a thief we grandiosely allude to him as a defaulter. When we see a wealthy man
staggering along a fashionable thoroughfare under the influence of alcohol, waving his
arms in the air and shouting boisterously, we smile and say, poor gentleman, he is
somewhat exhilarated; or at worst we say, he is slightly inebriated; but when we see a
poor man who has fallen from grace by putting an "enemy into his mouth to steal away
his brain" we express our indignation in the simple language of the words: "Look at the
wretch; he is dead drunk."
When we find a person in downright lying we cover the falsehood with the finely-spun
cloak of the word prevarication. Shakespeare says, "a rose by any other name would
smell as sweet," and by a similar sequence, a lie, no matter by what name you may call it,
is always a lie and should be condemned; then why not simply call it a lie? Mean what
you say and say what you mean; call a spade a spade, it is the best term you can apply to
the implement.
When you try to use short words and shun long ones in a little while you will find that
you can do so with ease. A farmer was showing a horse to a city-bred gentleman. The
animal was led into a paddock in which an old sow-pig was rooting. "What a fine
quadruped!" exclaimed the city man.
"Which of the two do you mean, the pig or the horse?" queried the farmer, "for, in my
opinion, both of them are fine quadrupeds."
Of course the visitor meant the horse, so it would have been much better had he called the
animal by its simple; ordinary name—, there would have been no room for ambiguity in
his remark. He profited, however, by the incident, and never called a horse a quadruped
again.
Most of the small words, the simple words, the beautiful words which express so much
within small bounds belong to the pure Anglo-Saxon element of our language. This
element has given names to the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon and stars; to three out of
the four elements, earth, fire and water; three out of the four seasons, spring, summer and
winter. Its simple words are applied to all the natural divisions of time, except one, as
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day, night, morning, evening, twilight, noon, mid-day, midnight, sunrise and sunset. The
names of light, heat, cold, frost, rain, snow, hail, sleet, thunder, lightning, as well as
almost all those objects which form the component parts of the beautiful, as expressed in
external scenery, such as sea and land, hill and dale, wood and stream, etc., are AngloSaxon. To this same language we are indebted for those words which express the earliest
and dearest connections, and the strongest and most powerful feelings of Nature, and
which, as a consequence, are interwoven with the fondest and most hallowed
associations. Of such words are father, mother, husband, wife, brother, sister, son,
daughter, child, home, kindred, friend, hearth, roof and fireside.
The chief emotions of which we are susceptible are expressed in the same language—
love, hope, fear, sorrow, shame, and also the outward signs by which these emotions are
indicated, as tear, smile, laugh, blush, weep, sigh, groan. Nearly all our national proverbs
are Anglo-Saxon. Almost all the terms and phrases by which we most energetically
express anger, contempt and indignation are of the same origin.
What are known as the Smart Set and so-called polite society, are relegating a great many
of our old Anglo-Saxon words into the shade, faithful friends who served their ancestors
well. These self-appointed arbiters of diction regard some of the Anglo-Saxon words as
too coarse, too plebeian for their aesthetic tastes and refined ears, so they are eliminating
them from their vocabulary and replacing them with mongrels of foreign birth and
hybrids of unknown origin. For the ordinary people, however, the man in the street or in
the field, the woman in the kitchen or in the factory, they are still tried and true and, like
old friends, should be cherished and preferred to all strangers, no matter from what
source the latter may spring.
CHAPTER XIV
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Beginning—Different Sources—The Present
The English language is the tongue now current in England and her colonies throughout
the world and also throughout the greater part of the United States of America. It sprang
from the German tongue spoken by the Teutons, who came over to Britain after the
conquest of that country by the Romans. These Teutons comprised Angles, Saxons, Jutes
and several other tribes from the northern part of Germany. They spoke different dialects,
but these became blended in the new country, and the composite tongue came to be
known as the Anglo-Saxon which has been the main basis for the language as at present
constituted and is still the prevailing element. Therefore those who are trying to do away
with some of the purely Anglo-Saxon words, on the ground that they are not refined
enough to express their aesthetic ideas, are undermining main props which are necessary
for the support of some important parts in the edifice of the language.
The Anglo-Saxon element supplies the essential parts of speech, the article, pronoun of
all kinds, the preposition, the auxiliary verbs, the conjunctions, and the little particles
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which bind words into sentences and form the joints, sinews and ligaments of the
language. It furnishes the most indispensable words of the vocabulary. (See Chap. XIII.)
Nowhere is the beauty of Anglo-Saxon better illustrated than in the Lord's Prayer. Fiftyfour words are pure Saxon and the remaining ones could easily be replaced by Saxon
words. The gospel of St. John is another illustration of the almost exclusive use of AngloSaxon words. Shakespeare, at his best, is Anglo-Saxon. Here is a quotation from the
Merchant of Venice, and of the fifty-five words fifty-two are Anglo-Saxon, the remaining
three French:
All that glitters is not gold—
Often have you heard that told;
Many a man his life hath sold,
But my outside to behold.
Guilded tombs do worms infold.
Had you been as wise as bold,
Young in limbs, in judgment old,
Your answer had not been inscrolled—
Fare you well, your suit is cold.
The lines put into the mouth of Hamlet's father in fierce intenseness, second only to
Dante's inscription on the gate of hell, have one hundred and eight Anglo-Saxon and but
fifteen Latin words.
The second constituent element of present English is Latin which comprises those words
derived directly from the old Roman and those which came indirectly through the French.
The former were introduced by the Roman Christians, who came to England at the close
of the sixth century under Augustine, and relate chiefly to ecclesiastical affairs, such as
saint from sanctus, religion from religio, chalice from calix, mass from missa, etc. Some
of them had origin in Greek, as priest from presbyter, which in turn was a direct
derivative from the Greek presbuteros, also deacon from the Greek diakonos.
The largest class of Latin words are those which came through the Norman-French, or
Romance. The Normans had adopted, with the Christian religion, the language, laws and
arts of the Romanized Gauls and Romanized Franks, and after a residence of more than a
century in France they successfully invaded England in 1066 under William the
Conqueror and a new era began. The French Latinisms can be distinguished by the
spelling. Thus Saviour comes from the Latin Salvator through the French Sauveur;
judgment from the Latin judiclum through the French jugement; people, from the Latin
populus, through the French peuple, etc.
For a long time the Saxon and Norman tongues refused to coalesce and were like two
distinct currents flowing in different directions. Norman was spoken by the lords and
barons in their feudal castles, in parliament and in the courts of justice. Saxon by the
people in their rural homes, fields and workshops. For more than three hundred years the
streams flowed apart, but finally they blended, taking in the Celtic and Danish elements,
and as a result came the present English language with its simple system of grammatical
inflection and its rich vocabulary.
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The father of English prose is generally regarded as Wycliffe, who translated the Bible in
1380, while the paternal laurels in the secular poetical field are twined around the brows
of Chaucer.
Besides the Germanic and Romanic, which constitute the greater part of the English
language, many other tongues have furnished their quota. Of these the Celtic is perhaps
the oldest. The Britons at Caesar's invasion, were a part of the Celtic family. The Celtic
idiom is still spoken in two dialects, the Welsh in Wales, and the Gaelic in Ireland and
the Highlands of Scotland. The Celtic words in English, are comparatively few; cart,
dock, wire, rail, rug, cradle, babe, grown, griddle, lad, lass, are some in most common
use.
The Danish element dates from the piratical invasions of the ninth and tenth centuries. It
includes anger, awe, baffle, bang, bark, bawl, blunder, boulder, box, club, crash, dairy,
dazzle, fellow, gable, gain, ill, jam, kidnap, kill, kidney, kneel, limber, litter, log, lull,
lump, mast, mistake, nag, nasty, niggard, horse, plough, rug, rump, sale, scald, shriek,
skin, skull, sledge, sleigh, tackle, tangle, tipple, trust, viking, window, wing, etc.
From the Hebrew we have a large number of proper names from Adam and Eve down to
John and Mary and such words as Messiah, rabbi, hallelujah, cherub, seraph, hosanna,
manna, satan, Sabbath, etc.
Many technical terms and names of branches of learning come from the Greek. In fact,
nearly all the terms of learning and art, from the alphabet to the highest peaks of
metaphysics and theology, come directly from the Greek—philosophy, logic,
anthropology, psychology, aesthetics, grammar, rhetoric, history, philology, mathematics,
arithmetic, astronomy, anatomy, geography, stenography, physiology, architecture, and
hundreds more in similar domains; the subdivisions and ramifications of theology as
exegesis, hermeneutics, apologetics, polemics, dogmatics, ethics, homiletics, etc., are all
Greek.
The Dutch have given us some modern sea terms, as sloop, schooner, yacht and also a
number of others as boom, bush, boor, brandy, duck, reef, skate, wagon. The Dutch of
Manhattan island gave us boss, the name for employer or overseer, also cold slaa (cut
cabbage and vinegar), and a number of geographical terms.
Many of our most pleasing euphonic words, especially in the realm of music, have been
given to us directly from the Italian. Of these are piano, violin, orchestra, canto, allegro,
piazza, gazette, umbrella, gondola, bandit, etc.
Spanish has furnished us with alligator, alpaca, bigot, cannibal, cargo, filibuster,
freebooter, guano, hurricane, mosquito, negro, stampede, potato, tobacco, tomato, tariff,
etc.
From Arabic we have several mathematical, astronomical, medical and chemical terms as
alcohol, alcove, alembic, algebra, alkali, almanac, assassin, azure, cipher, elixir, harem,
hegira, sofa, talisman, zenith and zero.
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Bazaar, dervish, lilac, pagoda, caravan, scarlet, shawl, tartar, tiara and peach have come
to us from the Persian.
Turban, tulip, divan and firman are Turkish.
Drosky, knout, rouble, steppe, ukase are Russian.
The Indians have helped us considerably and the words they have given us are extremely
euphonic as exemplified in the names of many of our rivers and States, as Mississippi,
Missouri, Minnehaha, Susquehanna, Monongahela, Niagara, Ohio, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Iowa, Nebraska, Dakota, etc. In addition to these proper names we have
from the Indians wigwam, squaw, hammock, tomahawk, canoe, mocassin, hominy, etc.
There are many hybrid words in English, that is, words, springing from two or more
different languages. In fact, English has drawn from all sources, and it is daily adding to
its already large family, and not alone is it adding to itself, but it is spreading all over the
world and promises to take in the entire human family beneath its folds ere long. It is the
opinion of many that English, in a short time, will become the universal language. It is
now being taught as a branch of the higher education in the best colleges and universities
of Europe and in all commercial cities in every land throughout the world. In Asia it
follows the British sway and the highways of commerce through the vast empire of East
India with its two hundred and fifty millions of heathen and Mohammedan inhabitants. It
is largely used in the seaports of Japan and China, and the number of natives of these
countries who are learning it is increasing every day. It is firmly established in South
Africa, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and in many of the islands of the Indian and South Seas. It
is the language of Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and Christian missionaries are
introducing it into all the islands of Polynesia. It may be said to be the living commercial
language of the North American continent, from Baffin's Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, and
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and it is spoken largely in many of the republics of South
America. It is not limited by parallels of latitude, or meridians of longitude. The two great
English-speaking countries, England and the United States, are disseminating it north,
south, east and west over the entire world.
CHAPTER XV
MASTERS AND MASTERPIECES OF LITERATURE
Great Authors—Classification—The World's Best Books.
The Bible is the world's greatest book. Apart from its character as a work of divine
revelation, it is the most perfect literature extant.
Leaving out the Bible the three greatest works are those of Homer, Dante and
Shakespeare. These are closely followed by the works of Virgil and Milton.
INDISPENSABLE BOOKS
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Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Shakespeare and Goethe.
(The best translation of Homer for the ordinary reader is by Chapman. Norton's
translation of Dante and Taylor's translation of Goethe's Faust are recommended.)
A GOOD LIBRARY
Besides the works mentioned everyone should endeavor to have the following:
Plutarch's Lives, Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Chaucer, Imitation of Christ (Thomas
a Kempis), Holy Living and Holy Dying (Jeremy Taylor), Pilgrim's Progress, Macaulay's
Essays, Bacon's Essays, Addison's Essays, Essays of Elia (Charles Lamb), Les
Miserables (Hugo), Heroes and Hero Worship (Carlyle), Palgrave's Golden Treasury,
Wordsworth, Vicar of Wakefield, Adam Bede (George Eliot), Vanity Fair (Thackeray),
Ivanhoe (Scott), On the Heights (Auerbach), Eugenie Grandet (Balzac), Scarlet Letter
(Hawthorne), Emerson's Essays, Boswell's Life of Johnson, History of the English People
(Green), Outlines of Universal History, Origin of Species, Montaigne's Essays,
Longfellow, Tennyson, Browning, Whittier, Ruskin, Herbert Spencer.
A good encyclopoedia is very desirable and a reliable dictionary indispensable.
MASTERPIECES OF AMERICAN LITERATURE
Scarlet Letter, Parkman's Histories, Motley's Dutch Republic, Grant's Memoirs,
Franklin's Autobiography, Webster's Speeches, Lowell's Bigelow Papers, also his Critical
Essays, Thoreau's Walden, Leaves of Grass (Whitman), Leather-stocking Tales (Cooper),
Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, Ben Hur and Uncle Tom's Cabin.
TEN GREATEST AMERICAN POETS
Bryant, Poe, Whittier, Longfellow, Lowell, Emerson, Whitman, Lanier, Aldrich and
Stoddard.
TEN GREATEST ENGLISH POETS
Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Burns, Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Tennyson,
Browning.
TEN GREATEST ENGLISH ESSAYISTS
Bacon, Addison, Steele, Macaulay, Lamb, Jeffrey, De Quincey, Carlyle, Thackeray and
Matthew Arnold.
BEST PLAYS OF SHAKESPEARE
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In order of merit are: Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra, Macbeth,
Merchant of Venice, Henry IV, As You Like It, Winter's Tale, Romeo and Juliet,
Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, Tempest.
ONLY THE GOOD
If you are not able to procure a library of the great masterpieces, get at least a few. Read
them carefully, intelligently and with a view to enlarging your own literary horizon.
Remember a good book cannot be read too often, one of a deteriorating influence should
not be read at all. In literature, as in all things else, the good alone should prevail.
Poster's Note: the words "encyclopoedia", "insiduously", and
"Synechdoche"
are thus in the original printing as are the spaces between "B. A."
etc.
"Insiduously" and "Synechdoche" are valid variant spellings.
End of Project Gutenberg's How to Speak and Write Correctly, by Joseph
Devlin
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW TO SPEAK AND WRITE ***
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